The Maze of Time, Part One: Second Chances
by Gladius Infractus
Summary: It has been three years since the end of the Meterex War, but now an even more deadly threat has risen out of the fabric of time itself. The friends must unite to face this danger, or fall. Rated T for violence and language. Rewritten from my old account.
1. Summary and Prologue

**The Maze of Time, Part One: Second Chances**

Summary:

It has been three years since the end of the Meterex War. Over that time the Sonic Team has drifted apart. Now the only members who remain active are Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles. Though most of them still keep in touch, they don't see each other often, and some they don't see at all. However, events are slowly bringing the friends back together, just as they are building up to another turning point, like the one three years ago. It is a second chance for the darkness to conquer the world, but it is also a second chance for the heroes to regain the costs of their past effort. This is the reunion of the Sonic Team and the beginning of a war even more terrible than the last. Peace and freedom or absolute destruction? The choice will be made.....

* * *

**REWRITE EDIT:** TMoT LIVES!!! In a recent conversation I had with a fellow author, my inspiration seems to have sparked. These 'Rewrite Edits' are to clarify any misconceptions my former readers have gotten. Anything I do that doesn't make sense, please, bring it up in a review and I will answer your questions as best I can. One final bit of clarification, brought on by one of the reviews I got when I first posted this story. Up until Shadow warps himself into the explosion, it is simply a written form of Shadow's last appearance in Sonic X. Someone said that Shadow would never apologize, well, if you feel that way, take it up with his creators not me. That line is directly from the TV show. After that point, however, is where the story truly begins.

**NOTICE: **All who have read this story previously, please read through it again. I have modified the story in places to make it easier to understand, and also added new bits.

Alright time for this disclaimer thingie: I do not own Shadow :( Sonic, or the Typhoon. All that belongs to Sega and the Sonic team people.

* * *

**Prologue - Chaos Control**

**Galactic Coordinates, Triple Zero. Time Unknown.  
**

I was surrounded by light. Apparently, Tails had misjudged the power of two super hedgehogs crashing into Dark Oak's planet form at speeds much faster than sound. The explosion was growing too fast for us to spindash out. Luckily, that was easy to get around. With a quick mental shout of 'Chaos Control' I felt the familiar sensation of being ripped out of time and hurled through space. Next thing I knew, I was viewing the explosion I had just been at the core of from a safe distance. Floating in space beside me was Super Sonic. I turned my head toward him and inclined it slightly, the only answer he needed to his unspoken question.

I summoned up my energy yet again, and together we yelled "CHAOS REGENERATION!!!!!!" and hurled balls of pure energy back in the direction from which we came. I waited a second to see the result, hoping for the best but knowing that the worst was probably true. I wasn't wrong. Suddenly, we got a frantic message from the Doctor's ship, warning us that the energy buildup had grown too powerful, and that in a moment it would explode outward, destroying both our ships. Sonic, having come to the same conclusion as I, began to charge up Chaos Control.

"CHAOS-"

Suddenly, I knew what I had to do. Before Sonic could complete his sentence, I spun around and punched him in the gut with enough force to immobilize him for a few seconds.

All he had time for was to gasp my name in surprise, "Sha… Shadow..."

I pushed him through space toward the Typhoon, spending just enough time to call an apology out to him. "Don't be angry, I didn't have any other choice. I can't risk letting you stop the explosion."

I knew he had heard me, but I didn't have any more time. As I removed my inhibitor rings, my full power was released. It felt great to have them off again, but I could sense that the egg was about to blow. "CHAOS CONTROL!" Time froze around me as I was yanked into the explosion, it's huge power frozen harmlessly around me_. _

_I have to find that egg NOW._

My time was running out. I could feel the extreme heat coming back, and I still hadn't found that damn egg. Ah, there it was! I quickly launched myself at it, but I could already tell I would be too late.

_Shit! I'm not going to make it! NO! I HAVE to stop this! For Maria…_

I instantly knew that the last thought had come from the part of my mind that I still couldn't access. I knew from what some of the others had said, and from the faint, blurred feelings I had left from that period of my history, that Maria had been a good friend, just as I knew now that she would want me to do this.

Suddenly, I felt a power that I never knew existed. It was like an infinite ocean, and, despite the deadly situation I was in, I couldn't help but let out an exhilarated laugh. I channeled this new strength into my Chaos Control, and I felt, more that saw, it stabilize. With another laugh, I blasted straight at the egg, and as my hand touched it I released the Chaos Control for just a second. That was almost too much. The egg's shell, already cracked, couldn't hold out any longer. As my vision was filled with white light, I focused my whole mind on one word…

_Away_

"CHAOS CONTROL!!"

And then, time was frozen again to all except myself. I felt the egg traveling beside me, but the light had blinded me the instant it had appeared. I knew one thing for certain though; if I was still here when the teleport ended, I would die. Not even the power of the emeralds could protect me from this.

_Just because I volunteered for this doesn't mean I intend to die out here…_

No, I was defiantly NOT going to die now! There was no way I was going to let that faker outlast me! Besides, without me they would probably end up getting themselves killed if something like the Meterex ever showed its ugly head. I thought of possible places to teleport to so I could get away from this accursed egg. The list wasn't very big. I didn't have enough power left to get back to Mobius or even back to the Typhoon, and since I couldn't teleport somewhere I hadn't been, as I might end up stuck inside something solid, the list was basically empty. There was only one thing left to do, and though I probably wouldn't have enough power to pull it off, it was try or die.

_Safety_

"CHAOS CONTROL!"

And after that I remembered no more.

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So how did you like it? Go tell me in a review please!


	2. Chapter 1: A Warrior and a Devil

**The Maze of Time, Part One: Second Chances**

**REWRITE EDIT:** One of my old reviewers, Ladyamalphia, pointed out that some people, specifically her, didn't exactly enjoy OC's very much. I, personally, must agree to that sentiment. As such, the only OC's in this story are going to be ones I find absolutely necessary for the plot to continue. This obviously includes any characters I have in place for a villain. Other than enemies for Sonic and Co., there will only be two OC's as planned. One is Cassy. When I finally reach the point where the second OC comes in, which is near the end, I will explain his purpose to you as well. For now, though, I will not mention him any further, for fear of spoiling something. As for Cassy, her purpose is simple. Shadow is not big on teamwork, as we all have most likely noticed, and thus is going to be going off alone a lot during the story. During these times, I needed someone for him to talk to, otherwise the result was a boring chapter with the only dialogue being between Shadow and his enemies. So, I needed someone stubborn enough to be able to put up with Shadow and still follow him around. My first choice was Rouge, but I already have a plan for her that calls for her talents elsewhere in the story. Then I happened to think of Cassy, who I stumbled upon a long time ago, and the story of how that came to pass is a long one (Longer than this one even) so I will not bore you with it. I hope that clarified my intentions to the readers.

Disclaimer: I do not own any Sonic characters, they are property of SEGA and Sonic Team. All I own are the freaky evil guy and my ideas.

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**Chapter 1 - A Warrior and a Devil**

**Three Years Later, ****3:00 AM, Terra (Shadow's current planet of residence)  
**

"Do these guys ever give up!?!"

I ducked as another bullet whistled past my ear, then glanced over at the source of the shout. My partner on this mission, a hedgehog female named Cassy, was pinned down as I was behind the cop car we had commandeered to get here.

"Just shut up and cover me…"

I could see her glance over at me, preparing to ask what I thought I was going to do, but before she could say anything I had already stood up and taken aim. Two loud shots and it was again silent. Moving quickly, I ran to the museum doorway in which they had been taking cover, and looked around for the bodies. I found them both lying with a bullet wound to the head each with their guns a few feet away. A glance at the bodies told me that it would be impossible to identify them by appearance; their faces were mauled beyond recognition, a testament to my deadly accuracy. They both wore the same outfit, however; black pants and shirt with a shiny black leather jacket over the top.

_Must be some kind of gang uniform...._

I gave the all clear sign, and in a moment Cassy was kneeling down to check the pockets for any I.D., while I kept my gun ready to fire on the first thing that moved in the currently silent street.

"Hmmm… I don't see any kind of- WHAT THE HELL?"

A quick 180 degree turn and glance around show no targets of any kind, and for a moment, I wondered what she had shouted for. Then, I saw what was going on. The only way to describe it was to say that the bodies were _disintegrating_, clothes and all. In less than two seconds all that remained was a swirling, dark mist, which promptly wafted away into the night. Curious, I cautiously reached out to touch the strange substance, but my hand passed right though it. I felt something though. Not a physical substance, but a mental presence. Perhaps it was my lack of sleep getting to me, but I doubted it. I had gone without rest for longer and never felt something like this. Whatever the stuff was, it seemed to be some kind of supernatural power, vaguely like Chaos Energy. My train of though was interrupted by my chatty partner asking yet another dumb question, though I guess I didn't blame her, the inhabitants of this planet had no experience with the supernatural energies I was used to.

"Strange… there's no wind, so why did it fly away?"

My only response to her comment was a short glare in her general direction, before walking off down the street.

"Where are you going? The car is over here!"

I stopped for just long enough to respond. "In case you hadn't noticed, both wheels on the left side are shot full of holes. It would be faster to walk"

With that said, I turned on my heel and continued on, the sound of footsteps telling me that Cassy had decided to follow. This had been going on since we had first started this damned mission. Whoever set me up with this rookie was going to get it, and I had a pretty good idea who it had been. Sticking me with the only female hedgehog in the whole corps was my commanders way of telling me to lighten up and get out more. I glanced over momentarily debating whether or not to confirm my suspicions with a question, but decided against it. She was wearing the black uniform of the special forces, which, when issued one after signing up, I had refused adamantly. There was no way I was going to go around looking like _that_. Other than that she looked like any other hedgehog, with yellow fur and brown quills, that for some completely unfathomable reason had blue tips. All in all she was the kind of girl that_ some_ people, I got a very clear picture of my commander, a bear about 19 or 20, would call, what was it now? Ah yes "sexy". Personally, I failed to see what people like him saw in females. Especially this one. I wasn't talkative at the best of times, and as of now I hadn't slept for 48 hours, so her constant statements of the obvious, sarcastic comments, and pointless questions were getting on my nerves. I hated rookies. I mentally sighed, exasperated with my bad luck, then remembered the guy we had run into a ways back.

_Oh well, at least she can shoot_

I sensed what was going to happen a moment before it did. As we reached a three way intersection, fire opened from both sides of the cross street and the restaurant in front of us. Moving at almost the same time as the men fired, I homing attacked the tall office building to our left, held on for a second, then used a triangle jump to get to the second story wall of the restaurant. Executing a back flip of the wall, I gave the human men I landed in front of time only to stare at me for a second in shock before pulling out a shotgun and killing them both with one shot. A second later, Cassy was across the street and behind the cover of the outdoor tables like I was. For the 23rd time today bullets were flying at me from all directions, kept from embedding themselves into my flesh by a thin barrier.

_How do I get myself into these situations?_

_I awoke to the sound of birds chirping. The surface I was lying on was bumpy, and through the fur on my back I could feel something that seemed to be grass. I felt dizziness hit me as I tried to sit up, so I immediately gave up on that for a minute. I had no idea where I was, or even who I was. I tried to remember, but that only made my already considerable headache worse. Finally, I decided I could gain nothing more from lying on the ground, so I sat up. After a moment, my eyes adjusted and I looked around. I was lying in the middle of a forest at sometime around mid-morning. Judging by my surroundings, whatever planet I was on was in late spring. As I stood up and took a step, I nearly fell right back down again, partly because my balance was horrible at the moment; something must have upset my inner ear, and partly because I had stepped on something about the size of my fist and harder that a rock. I bent down to examine it. It appeared to be a sort of gem, green in color and glowing with some sort of energy. I reached to pick up the 'Chaos Emerald', or at least that's what my mind said it was, but as I touched it I froze in shock. Images came shooting back to me, fighting the Metarex, chasing Cosmo and Tails through the Typhoon, the final battle, all that Chaos Controlling…_

It worked!

_A small smirk of victory crossed my face, but then I reverted to my usual impenetrable emotional barrier. Business first. I felt around in the grass and leaves for my inhibitor rings and the other chaos emeralds. Within about five minutes I had found all of them. Before anyone could see, I hid the emeralds from view and put on my bracelets. For a moment I closed my eyes and stood in silence. My ears suddenly twitched in the direction of a faint sound, at least a sound other than those birds, the infernal pests. I debated weather or not just to Chaos Control my way in that direction until I found something, but decided against it, seeing as I would just end up even more exhausted than I already was. Already sick of this forest and it's birds, who seemed to have nothing to do but sit there giving me an even worse headache, I began to skate at a quick pace through the trees._

I shook my head. Three years seemed like such a long time ago. I remembered how I had wandered around for most of the day till I found a trail, then slept under a tree till morning. After that, I had followed the trail till I came to this city. Completely broke, exhausted, and starving I looked for something to do. Eventually, while in a rare helpful mood, I signed up to join the Special Forces, whch seemed to be a mix between G.U.N. and a SWAT team.

_How stupid could I have been? Its been nothing but one mission after another ever since they saw my combat abilities._

At least I hadn't shown them my Chaos Control. They probably would have gone crazy and just fired all the other agents so they could give me every single mission that came up. I sighed. It seemed my 'rare helpful moods' were becoming more common. Over the years my memory had not improved much, but I could remember the last promise I made Maria perfectly. I supposed this was just my way of carrying it out.

"Shadow are you going to do something or what!?"

Shaken out of my memories by her shout, I rolled my eyes, then turned and shot the guy on her side in the head next time he came up, watching just long enough to see him morph into smoke like the rest. As I turned toward the guy on my side I caught a glimpse of his face as he ducked back behind the shelter of a pickup truck that was parked on the side of the road. Suddenly, I knew that something wasn't right about the guy, but I'd have to figure that out later because he was now shooting back with spirit. I dodged behind a different table, as my old one was being rapidly dismantled by one of the most effective tools around: a machine gun. Before I could retaliate however, he fell down with holes in his head, heart and right arm.

"Forgot about me?"

"Hmph. My amnesia isn't _that_ bad."

She stared at me for a moment and then, to my extreme annoyance, she _laughed_.

"What now?!"

"Ha! Shadow you just made a joke and you didn't even realize it!"

I sent her a glare that could scare death itself, but to my surprise, she kept on chuckling and ignored me completely.

"ENOUGH! Lets move!"

"Yes, sir!"

_Rrgg that mock salute is getting really annoying…_

I got control of my anger quickly enough. If it hadn't been so late I wouldn't have had such a short temper, but I had been awake for over 48 hours now and it was really killing my mood.

As if cued by some supernatural force that enjoyed annoying me, an explosion rent the temporary silence of the night. I watched in shock as a 30 story high office building collapsed, spewing rubble across the street ahead of us. A cold and completely insane laugh came from above, and I looked up to see another human floating in mid air about 15 stories up. He was wearing the same outfit as all the ones before him, leather jacket flapping in the wind, along with his wild dark hair. When I saw his face, I knew what my subconscious mind had been telling me a moment before. _They were copies! Every single damn one of them!_ Somehow this guy above me had created multiple copies of himself, armed them with guns, and sent them after us. Well, at least that explained the mist.

"Well well well, if it isn't Shadow the Hedgehog." He laughed again in the same high-pitched, manic way. "Look what I'm doing to your precious town!" I watched in shock as he fired a bolt of the same swirling energy the clones had become, except this was solid, and was _much_ more dangerous. I hit the pavement a moment before the bolt hit the restaurant behind us, blasting it to shreds instantly. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Cassy on the ground a few feet away. I didn't have time to check her condition, as the strange man had begun charging up another, more powerful attack to destroy the building across the street, laughing madly all the time.

"Oh no you don't!" I growled as I stood up. With a flick of my wrist I sent my pistol flying off to the side; I wouldn't be needing it anymore. Then, letting the old reflexes embedded into my brain during combat training on the ARK take over, I snapped my fingers, teleporting myself between him and the building. The residual energy of Chaos Control held me in the air long enough for my air shoes to kick in, the gold jets of fire from their soles faintly lighting the street. My opponent's expression became surprised, and for a moment he was silent. But only for a moment.

_Sadly..._

"HAH! You think that your puny powers can stop me? Then be my guest, I'll send you strait to the underworld!" And with that, he fired.

Holding my hands out in front of me, palms forward, and letting my subconscious mind dictate my actions, I yelled. "CHAOS BEAM!"

As swirling cylinder of purple and black energy shot out of his hands, a pure, golden beam of light launched from mine. Halfway to their respective targets, the attacks met with a blinding flash. Insane laughter was again coming from the other side of the glare, meanwhile I was silent, concentrating. While his blast was nearing its energy limits, mine was drawing power from one of the seven emeralds I always carried on my person. I drained more power from the gems, charging my beam to the point where it could have annihilated a whole city block, and still I couldn't even sense a dent in my supply. A triumphant smirk was slowly appearing on my face, while the laughter had long since died out.

Finally both of our blasts had died out, his because of energy loss and mine because I had no intention of letting anything else get damaged.

"Im-impossible!" Suddenly energy swirled around him again and he straitened up, refreshed. Both of us floated down and landed, I stood again on the street, while he touched down on the rubble pile from the building he had blown up earlier. Suddenly, he held both hands out preparing to attack me a second time. "It makes no difference! Now you will DIE!"

I simply crossed my arms and smiled "That's what _you_ think!"

A moment before it was launched, I knew what his offensive would be. Small balls of energy went flying at me at near light speed, while, without moving a single muscle, I dodged them all by flickering in and out of Chaos Control. The result was I continuously faded out and reappeared about three feet in one direction or another, while his blasts hit the pavement where I had been milliseconds before. As the last attack, a much stronger one this time, destroyed the entire area I had been warping around in, I appeared behind him, executed a backflip kick, Chaos Controlled to just above him, and fired a Chaos Spear, hitting him in the left side. I watched in satisfaction as the shockwave from the blast hurled him into the adjacent building.

I floated lower on my air shoes to inspect the hole he had made in the side, and wasn't very surprised to find that he had drilled through most of the large office building.

_Well, looks like some people just got a day off..._

With another snap of my fingers I reappeared in the middle of the street next to Cassy, who had been sanding there watching the whole fight with the same awed stare she had now. However, before I could open my mouth to give her strict orders to keep hers shut about this I heard another laugh behind me.

"Oh you have got to be kidding me..." Suddenly, more dark energy swirled around the building, imploding it and causing a miniature earthquake. This was the last straw. I felt pure Chaos Energy moving through me to my fur, ready to explode outward destroying everything in it's way, which would hopefully include that asshole who refused to do everyone a favor and _die._

"SHADOW?? What's going on?!" My anger quickly subsided, and I realized what I had almost done.

_Shit... I could have destroyed this whole city!_

I would have time to berate myself later, but now I had to fight. With a thought, I conjured the seven Chaos Emeralds in a circle around me. They spun faster and faster as I pulled more positive energy from them. "HRAAAAAAAAAHHH!" Lifted off my feet by the sheer _power_ of the emeralds I watched my fur turn golden-white, and felt my spikes rise behind me. It was bliss. Even gravity couldn't hold me back! Much calmer than I had been, I kept a close eye on my power usage. I would have to seriously tone down my fighting style if I wanted to avoid collateral damage. That would give him the advantage, as he had no such qualms. Still, I doubted he stood a chance. "Hmph. NOW your going on a one way teleport to hell!"

With that said, I attacked. I launched through the air directly at his face, transported behind him at the last second, extended my legs to kick him… and found myself ramming into an impenetrable shield of energy. Before he could attack me, I Chaos Controlled away from him, but that didn't help much. Tendrils of pure, deadly power came flying at me, extending from my foe's body like tentacles. Seeing the new danger, I started flying away through the twisted alleyways of this city. As one of the beams passed a streetlamp, it brushed the top of it, instantly vaporizing the lamp on contact.

_OK, so I can probably guess that I don't want to touch those things…_

I had only one choice: do what he would least expect. I turned back onto the street we had been fighting on and began flying as fast as I could straight at him. Time seeming to slow around me, though I knew it was just an illusion created by my lightning quick reactions. As I entered the tendrils, they converged on me in an attempt to encircle me. Before they could fully surround me I was suddenly above them, coming strait down towards my enemy. In a flash the tendrils were closing again, but I had expected that. I dodged his feeble efforts and Chaos Controlled behind him, my fist infused with all my energy that I didn't need to keep flying.

By the time my fist connected he was already halfway turned again. It didn't matter. It was too late. As I connected he hurtled away through the air, flying limply toward a skyscraper.

_I'm not done with you yet! Chaos Control!_

I warped behind him, and instinctively opened a portal to nowhere. Actually, all I did was create a portal without setting an end point, so it should go to nowhere. Or at least, that was my theory; I had never tried it before. He fell silently into the portal and vanished without a trace.

I allowed myself to float to the ground, and let the remaining energy run out of my body and into the emeralds, which fell to the street around me. Cassy slowly approached me, with a mixture of 'stunned', 'confused', and 'what the hell just happened' showing plainly on her face. She opened her mouth to say something, but was cut off before she could even start.

I jumped up and spun around despite my exhaustion when a loud bang came from behind me. Silently, I watched as the area where the portal had been was distorted, like rising heat from hot pavement blurs anything seen through it.

Then, for a moment I sensed something that made even my blood chill: an area of absolute nothingness that somehow managed to contain all of time. It was mind boggling, and even the brief brush with it that I had left me disoriented and confused for a moment. I had no doubt that extended exposure would cause insanity to any being.

_At least any being from this dimension._

I had no idea where that thought had come from so I shoved it aside.

"HOW DID YOU KNOW HOW TO DO THAT!?"

The loud voice was accompanied by the once distorted area exploding into a portal; bolts of negative energy surrounding it. The man reappeared looking even angrier than before, but I saw something under his anger. _Fear._ I didn't know how I knew, but for him, that place was worse than death.

"You will pay for sending me to the Maze! But this just proves what I knew all along, you are weak! You do not have the power to ensnare me there for more than a minute! If my master didn't need you alive I would kill you now, sadly, that is not the case. However, I have no such barrier between me and your old friends… I think I'll kill that blue one first…" He stroked his chin with his hand as he started off into space, mockingly pretending to contemplate how best to kill Sonic.

"WHAT?! Get back here you!" I called angrily, for at that moment he vanished into a dark mist.

Quickly, I drew enough power from the Chaos Emeralds to transform into Super Shadow, and began powering up Chaos Control. I would have left for Mobius sooner, but I had my doubts as to whether or not I could make it. After all, all I knew about this planet was that the inhabitants called it 'Terra'. As far as I knew, I could be on the other side of the galaxy.

_Well, I guess I have no choice now._

"Hey Shadow! Wait what are you doing?"

But Cassy's shouts were in vain because at that moment I had vanished.

_Wait... What was that? Did something just…touch me? Damn._

I glanced back and my fears were confirmed. At the moment I Chaos Controlled, Cassy had touched my shoulder, so instead of being frozen near me, she had been taken out of time too. Before I could do anything, we were hurled through space toward Mobius.

* * *

*sigh* poor Shadow isn't gonna get any peace... This story is gonna end up being something like adventure/suspense/sci-fi/supernatural/frendship/I don't know WHAT else. OK I think I'm gonna go collapse now.... apfjkasdfjasdpgjaspd (me falling asleep at my desk)

**REWRITE EDIT: **In case you guys didn't see the line where Shadow thinks "Much calmer than I had been, I kept a close eye on my power usage. I would have to seriously tone down my fighting style if I wanted to avoid collateral damage. That would give him the advantage, as he had no such qualms." let me bring it to your attention. This means that, though Shadow is in Super Form, it is an extremely weak boost. He is purposely keeping his power down so he won't destroy anything. (Why I wrote this note will make sense in later chapters, where Shadow will pull off tougher fights than this one without using his super form.)


	3. Chapter 2: A Blur of Memories

**The Maze of Time, Part One: Second Chances**

**REWRITE EDIT: **For those of you afraid that this chapter "writes characters out of the story" sorry for confusing you. Tails is not currently at the base because A. I need him out of the way for the fight that is coming up soon, and B. it is the three year anniversary of when he killed Cosmo (Actually its 9:00 PM the day before) and come on, hes a kid who has been through a very traumatic experience, and that's gonna leave a mark on him. Amy I just needed out of the way for a bit, and Rouge was needed for a grand entrance in the next few chapters. Anyways enjoy!

And yes, I know the name of this chapter is a horrific pun. I did that on purpose.

Disclaimer: I do not own any Sonic characters or places. They are the property of SEGA. All I own is my plot and my evil dude. I don't even own the base: it belongs to Sonic. (well it does!)

* * *

**Chapter 2 - A Blur of Memories **

**Sonic Team Base, Angel Island 9:00 PM  
**

"So what are you waiting for? Buy our new-"

Static filled the room as I switched channels on the large TV in front of me. Eventually, I gave up hope that they would actually show anything interesting today and shut the whole set down. I sighed aloud, then, just for something to do, I ran around the island three times at top speed, returning to the living room in less than a second.

_If only something would _happen!

I threw myself down on the couch, forcing my body to stay still.

_Peace is all well and good, but this is getting _ridiculous!_ Did all the villains in the universe get heart attacks or something??_

Ever since the War, my life had gotten increasingly dull, until it reached the point where I could hardly stand it. In fact, there had been no sign of any action whatsoever for the past month and a half.

_Ah well, its probably a good thing, since we are down one third of the Team._

A better way to put that would probably be that we were missing one person. I sighed again, thinking of all the events that had happened since Dark Oak died, and how my former team had been reduced to me, Tails, and Knuckles.

"_Hey Soooonic! Come back here!!"_

"_Wha-"_

_I skidded to a complete stop at the familiar voice from behind me. I looked around, seeing my guess had been right on as usual when a small form dropped out of the dark sky._

"_Bokkun? What do you want?"_

"_Well there is no need to be so rude Sonic, I only came to give you a message."_

"_Yea, I figured you didn't drop by to check on my health…"_

"_Hmph"_

_I watched as the little robot in front of me pouted angrily and pulled a small, yellow TV out of his bag. Like any sane person would do, I took a few steps back and got ready to run before the message ended. Seeing my movement, and knowing exactly what I was doing, Bokkun glared at me again, then flew away. Turning, I glanced at the TV just in time for the message to start._

"_Why hello there Sonic! How are you doing?"_

"_Well… I _was_ bored, but I'm feeling much better now that I know I get to kick your rear again."_

"_Now now Sonic, you shouldn't get overconfident. I was just calling to ask if you recognize this… Heh heh heh…_

_I watched as Eggman reached for something off the screen. Knowing him it was probably a picture of one of his robots going to trash Station Square for the umpteenth time. However, it was immediately apparent that I was wrong. I froze as he held up a familiar hammer… too familiar. I could feel the fur on my back start to stand up, and I got that sinking feeling in my gut that told me I wasn't gonna like what I was about to see one bit.  
_

"_Alright Egghead, What have you done to her?" My voice was a low growl.  
_

"_Now Sonic you shouldn't lose your temper, she's just fine… NOT!"_

_The picture switched to a cell cam from somewhere inside Eggman's base. Around Amy's cell were about ten of Eggman's best robots, and the bars were charged with electricity and connected by a force field. Inside was what really caught my attention though. Amy was lying limply on her side, here forehead and side caked with dry blood. From my view I could see she was barely breathing, but before I could see anything else Eggman came back on the screen, a fake expression of sadness on his face. I lost it. I was angrier than when that Metarex commander can captured Chris and Cosmo. Hell, I was angrier than I had ever been before. It was quite obvious from the short look I got at her that Amy was hurt badly. The thought that she might die slipped into my mind, but I banished it to some back corner. If I dwelt on that possibility I was probably going to be paralyzed by my own emotions.  
_

"_I wouldn't have hurt her, but she pulled out her hammer and attacked! Before I could stop them my robots attacked to save my life. Then-" I couldn't take it anymore. His voice was filled with pride at his accomplishment. Hurting an innocent girl... hurting _Amy._ Any semblance of emotional control I had managed to retain vanished in an instant. Anger turned to fury and hatred. My mind was filled with appealing visions of the heartless bastard in front of me being maimed, tortured, etc._

"_SHUT UP!!"  
_

_I could guess he was staring at me in shock, but my rage filled my vision with red. He cut the transmission with a terrified look on his face, but before the TV could explode I blasted it into the air with a wave of dark energy that disintegrated the TV turned bomb on contact.  
_

"_He… will… pay!!"_

After that everything had been a blur. I ended up rescuing Amy, but not before I nearly beat Eggman to death. I shivered, thinking of what my dark form could do if I ever lost control again. That fear had been the main reason behind my decision to remove Amy and Cream from the group. I knew if either of them got badly hurt I would totally lose it. Soon after that, Rouge and Knuckles had a huge argument, and I mean bigger than normal. Rouge tried to nab the Master Emerald, but it ended up nearly getting sucked into a jet engine intake. Yeah, long story. Knuckles was absolutely livid, which was pretty funny, but it meant that he banned Rouge from Angel Island. She was just as mad at him for acting like a jerk when she had only pulled a prank on him, so she was more than happy to leave. And now that Tails had vanished again, we were more vulnerable than at any other time.

Before I could stop them, my thoughts wandered to Tails. The kit just hadn't been the same since the War. It was like he had aged _years_. Most of the time he actually managed to be his usual self, though he acted much more mature, but around this time of year he couldn't help becoming depressed. The kid was getting good at hiding his true emotions from us, but I could still tell when he was faking. Eventually, he would just vanish for the week of the anniversary, locked up in his large mansion in the Mystic Ruins, like he was now.

_Oh well… he will be back to normal in three days or so._

I remembered the one time I had tried to pay him a visit.

_Knock knock knock_

_The sound rang through the evening silence. _

"_Hey Tails its me, Sonic! Open up!_

_I jumped back in surprise as the door swung open soundlessly. _

"_Follow the light Sonic."_

_The faint voice had come from deep inside the mansion. Confused as to who had opened the door, I quickly realized that Tails had rigged it to unseal at a command from a remote. I stepped inside, and couldn't help but be a little creeped. As the door closed behind me, it cut off the only real light, but my eyes quickly adjusted enough to look around. Everything around me was covered by thick layers of dust. All the furniture was covered in sheets, and the widows had triple thick curtains hanging in front of them. The only light came dimly from deeper in the huge house._

I guess he must only be using the rooms he needs, and just leaving the rest alone.

_Turning toward the dim glow I dashed through the house, though only at a tiny portion of my real speed. In seconds I was in a lighted room, a kitchen I quickly realized. _

"_Hey Tails!"_

"_Hello Sonic."_

_His voice was quieter than usual, like he was exhausted after a long day of work_

"_I was stopping by to see if you wanted to go to a party the Pres invited us all to."_

_He didn't even glance up at my comment, only sat there staring at the wall behind me. "No" His eyes looked red, as though he hadn't slept much lately, and the white lab coat he had taken up wearing lately looked like he had been wearing it for days.  
_

"_Well then how about you come over to the base and hang out with me and Knucklehead?"_

_As before he didn't make any sign that he had heard me. After a minute or so he slowly shook his head once._

"_C'mon Tails, I'm gonna die of boredom if I don't do something soon!" To prove my point I ran around the inside of the house for about two seconds, thus passing through every room about five times. As with my other attempts I received no reaction._

_I sighed in exasperation then tried again to cheer my buddy up with a joke. "Tails if you don't come, I'll have to go and meet Amy… PLEASE HELP!"_

_That time I got a response, but it was only a weak smile and a grunt that sounded vaguely like laughter._

"_Seriously Tails, what do you want me to do??"_

"_I'm sorry Sonic, but there isn't really anything you _can_ do. I just need time alone so I can think."_

_I nodded, understanding what he meant. Sometimes I felt the same way about my problems with my darker side. A smile crossed his face, genuine this time. I grinned back and then I was gone, leaving behind only a sonic boom and a blur._

After that visit, I decided to respect his wish and leave him alone. If spending some time by himself helped, then I wasn't going to get in the way.

I jumped as a clap of thunder rang out over Angel Island, followed almost immediately by the patter of rain on the window.

_Great… can this get any worse?_

Suddenly a long alarm rang through our base, accompanied by the computer's voice.

"**Warning, anomaly detected. This is not a drill."**

_It just did. Well, now I have something to do at least._

I jump up from the couch and grabbed the TV remote, tapping a pattern onto the case. Suddenly the room was transformed. Pictures became computer screens, a small side table became a fully operational radar, and the coffee table projected a 3-d hologram of the surrounding area.. I glanced at the TV, which was now running a program to see if there was anything about what was happening on the news. There wasn't.

Standing surrounded by my best friend's inventions, I smiled, and for a moment I was filled with pride at what my little bro could do, but was interrupted by the computer flashing insistently. I ran over to the main unit and turned it on.

"This had better not be a false alarm like last time…" I muttered to myself as it started up. "OK, what have you found?"

A monotone voice answered me. "**I have detected a warp in time and space, very similar to a chaos control portal."**

"And you put this place on alert why?" I arched an eyebrow; things like that happened often around Angel Island. They were one of the side effects of the Master Emerald.

"**Something came out of the portal and is approaching our current location. The portal appeared at the same altitude as this island, and whatever came out of it can defy gravity."**

"So someone teleported a plane or something here?" This was more serious. For a moment, I toyed with the thought that it might be one of Tails' experiments, but he was still out at the Mystic Ruins.

"**Negative. Whatever it is, it is not mechanical."**

"Knowing you, its probably a malfunctioning radar and a pigeon or something." I still hadn't gotten over last time these computers put the base on alert. Wasted my entire day and made it so we couldn't go into town to get chilidogs.

"**Well sir, the pigeon has landed, and if I may say so sir, its one big pigeon…**

"Oh boy, here we go again." Before the computer could say anything else, I was out the door and looking for Knuckles.

* * *

Yea yea, Tails is OOC. Bite me. I promise it won't last though. Anyway this is mainly a recount of what happened to the Sonic Team after Sonic X.

**REVIEW EDIT: **You guys don't know how happy I am to be able to write a story involving something getting sucked into a jet engine. See, I told you I had a weird sense of humor...


	4. Chapter 3: Scion of Darkness

**The Maze of Time, Part One: Second Chances**

**REWRITE EDIT:** Going to go over a few important things.

**ONE:** You will need to watch Sonic X to get the slightest idea of what is going on. The reason why I say watch the Japanese subbed version on the last episodes is that the prologue starts out with quotes from the second to last (I think it was second to last) subbed episode.

**TWO:** Seeing as I haven't worked on this for a while, I have lost or forgotten some of my plan for part two of The Maze of Time. HOWEVER, story chapter six, when combined with story chapter two (Those would be chapters 7 and 3 if you count the prologue as an actual chapter) pretty much clears up everything that happened since the last episode. To make up for this, I'll just post a story that has a sort of 'trailer', if you will. It WILL contain information that is vital to the storyline though, so when it goes up I suggest you read it. I'll cover that more when I finish though.

**THREE: **Old readers will have heard this a lot, but I'll say it anyway. In my _latest_ plan for TMoT pt 1, I have lengthened the number of chappies yet again. In the NEW plan, there is going to be ELEVEN chapters, including the prologue and epilogue chapters. NOW the chapters undergoing difficulties are the last half of story chapter seven and all of story chapter 8. I wouldn't worry to much though. The only difficulties on seven is that I haven't had time to write it yet, with all these revisions. Also, chappie eight is gonna be a decently short one, and I DO have an outline of it. (For once.)

On a side note, the emerald shrine is now fully repaired as explained in Knuckles' thoughts just below here. That means that it has its stone roof and everything.

Alright now that I have talked your ears off, I'll get on with the story…

Disclaimer: I do not own any Sonic characters or locations, they are property of SEGA, and I am not using them for profit. The bad guy and my ideas are my property.

* * *

**Chapter 3 - Scion of Darkness**

**Angel Island, Master Emerald Shrine, 9:30 PM  
**

The unusually loud thunderclap triggered an old reflex that I had had since I had trained to be a Guardian. As the loud sound woke me from my sleep, I was already on my feet in a fighting position. In a second, I realized what it had been and lowered my guard, glancing at the torrential rain that was already falling all around me.

_I'm sure glad Tails sent those 'bots over here to restore the Emerald Shrine, or I would be soaked._

Smiling slightly at the impotent rain, I lay back down with my back against the Master Emerald and closed my eyes, intending to go back to sleep.

"HEY KNUX! Wake up!"

I rolled my eyes behind their lids; apparently the world just wasn't going to let me get any rest today.

"What Sonic? If your about to tell me some new stupid plan that you made up just for something to do, your going to be very sorry, cause I still remember what happened _last_ time…"

As I made that statement I stood up and glared at my ever annoying friend.

"Nah, its not me." He was speaking his usual nonchalant voice, so whatever it was, it couldn't be that bad. "The base computer just told me something about the size of a man came out of a portal, then flew over to the island and landed here."

"WHAT??" Now I was mad. Couldn't Sonic see what that could mean? If this intruder could create portals and fly, then they could be very powerful indeed! "WHY DIDN'T YOU-" I stopped in mid-sentence when I noticed Sonic was staring at something over my shoulder.

_Oh no, whoever it is, or _whatever_ it is has got to be behind me…_

I turned toward the middle of the island, and sure enough there was a man in a black outfit standing on the top of the mountain that sat in the center of Angel Island. From what I could see, he had wild dark hair that blew in the high wind, and was wearing black pants and a shirt of the same color. Over that he had on a leather jacket.

"What do you think your doing here on my island?!" My shout caused him to glace down at us, then he began to laugh. The unearthly noise made all the hair along my neck stand strait up, and a look at Sonic told me it had creeped him out too.

"Why, to kill you both of course!! Hahahaha!"

"How about you come down here and try!?" His only reaction to my challenge was to laugh harder.

"Alright, you pissed me off whoever you are, and its time to face the consequences!"

"Knux, I'll get him first. When I start running, turn to the right and head for the edge of the island."

"Got it." I nodded to my friend, but before I had even moved he was off. I started running immediately, and reached the edge just in time to see what Sonic had done. Instead of going strait at the guy, he had run around the mountain at top speed, and came at the man from the side.

It worked. Before the man had any time to react, Sonic's spindash hit him so hard he went flying… right towards me.

"Heh heh heh, now you're going to get what's coming to you!" As his body was about to hit me, I grabbed it, began swinging round as fast as I could, and then released him into thin air. I watched as his body passed into a cloud and out of sight.

"HAH! That'll teach him to mess with us, right Knux?" I looked at Sonic, who had just ran up beside me in time to see the guy fall. Something he had said earlier was nagging at the back of my head, telling me something was _very_ wrong. Suddenly, I knew what it was.

"Wait a minute Sonic… didn't you say he could…" I turned my head back toward the cloud as the man floated unsupported out of it. "…fly." I let out a long sigh. Looks like one of Sonic's plans failed… _again._

'Did you fools really think that would harm me??" He was laughing like a maniac again, and it was really getting on my nerves. Well, that and all his insults. "I'm disappointed. I thought the legendary heroes who saved the galaxy would be a little… tougher."

"Alright asshole! You want tough, I'll give you tough!" Again nothing but laughter in response. He slowly floated over our heads and landed behind us a few feet away. By now I was getting really mad, but I kept it under control, something I wouldn't have been able to do years ago. I smiled back at him, then started chuckling. I had realized what he was trying to pull. "If you think you can get me to lose control that easily, then your dumber than I thought."

"Good! This might get interesting after all!" A wicked grin crossed his face, and he launched himself at me around the speeds Sonic seemed to constantly be at. Unfortunately for him, I had been training more than my self-control. I easily bent out of the way of his first punches, then swung my whole body forward to deliver a punch of my own. My fist connected with his gut so hard that it should have sent him flying, but he only stumbled back a few steps.

_He's strong! Oh well, that's enough of an opening. All I have to do is punch harder._

And that is exactly what I did. I was on him in an instant, punching through every opening, and dodging all of his return attacks. I could feel my sweat mix with the rain and his blood as we fought on. I was good, but I wasn't perfect, and I knew I was going to slip up sooner or later. I was right. I slightly overextended myself, and caught a kick to the abdomen as a result. _Damn, that guy hit hard…_ Finally, I put every bit of strength I had into one uppercut, which launched him into the air. Just as he recovered, Sonic came out of nowhere at about mach 3. The result was a large hole in the side of the mountain.

"Ha! You can't beat us!"

"You stupid, arrogant hedgehog! Your power is nothing compared to mine!" Some kind of black and bruise purple mist seemed to flow out of the crater.

_What!? Hes alive??_

Sonic and I could only stare speechlessly as the seemingly unharmed man stepped out of the strange substance. Before I could move, he was gone. I froze as a hand touched the back of my head.

"You fought well. Your reward will be a quick death." Very few times in my life had I been afraid. I was now. My senses, long used to large reservoirs of power from being around the Master Emerald, went crazy. I tried to turn and hit him, or dodge the attack, but it was already to late.

Everything was a blur. I vaguely realized, as if I was a spectator watching from far away, that I had come to a stop with my back to a tree. I tried to stand, to lift a hand, to _move_, but I couldn't get a reaction out of my battered body. Suddenly, I noticed that my eyes were closed. Putting all my effort into it, I managed to open them up, only to see a large green blur. No, it wasn't all green, there was a blue spot and a black spot, moving too fast for me to focus on. I watched as the blue spot stopped. It seemed to get closer to me.

"Knuckles??"

I heard the voice from miles away, not feet. Some part of my brain registered that my body was being shaken. I knew my friend was trying to get me to respond, but I simply didn't have the strength anymore. Trying desperately to get a reaction from my maimed body, I pulled up images of my friends, then the Master Emerald that I was supposed to be protecting. Nothing. I realized the truth. I, Knuckles the Echidna, last of my race, and the final Guardian of the Master Emerald, was dieing, and there wasn't a damn thing I could do about it.

Something around me had changed. Where was that blue spot that had been there moments before? There were two black areas now. The one closest to me was in the same place as Sonic's blue had been. I focused on it as best I could. It wasn't the same black as the man. It was the black that results from pure darkness, in a place devoid of light. The two colors threw themselves at each other. They were at it again; I knew that much from the rumblings I felt, for it was hard to hear anything anymore. The noises and flashes continued for what seemed like hours.

The last thing I saw was a flash of brilliant gold, and the last I felt was a familiar energy washing over me.

_The Emeralds…

* * *

_

OMG! Will Knuckles survive? Will Shadow save them? Why am I asking questions you know the answer to already? XD I apologize to you all if I messed up Knuckles. I can write Shadow no sweat, because when I'm having a really bad day I usually end up acting like him. Also, Sonic is easy cause I can understand almost perfectly how his mind works, but Knuckles? For some reason I just can't write him very well. In fact, this is definitely the best I've done on him. Well, read the story then go and press that pretty green button and tell me what you think! Chapter 4 is on the way!

**REWRITE EDIT:** Looking back over this now rewritten chapter, I can safely say that I like it a lot more than I did the first time through. That however, DOES NOT mean that I do not want your opinions. Please, someone review soon!


	5. Chapter 4: Blast From a Shadowed Past

**The Maze of Time, Part One: Second Chances**

**REWRITE EDIT:** OK guys here we go again. Unknownlight brought the obscene length of my author's notes to my attention in his review. I apologize for the boredom I put you guys through. Sadly, I'm just a naturally chatty person, in real life and apparently over the net as well. So, taking his thoughts into consideration, I have gone back and removed all the useless parts of my A/N's. Hopefully that helped any new readers. Without further ado I give you another re-written chapter, and another horrible pun for the chapter name.

**EDIT: **Oh my! I nearly forgot, I finally got a name for that planet Shadow stayed on for three years. It is now referred to as 'Terra', which is just Latin for 'earth' anyway. I hate making names...

**Disclaimer: **Oops forgot to add this earlier. I don't own any characters in the story at the time except for the villain. Sonic and all things related to him belong to SEGA.

* * *

**Chapter 4 - Blast From a Shadowed Past**

**9:45 PM, Angle Island Forest  
**

"Knuckles!!?"

Free from the shock that had frozen me for a moment, I ran over to where my friend and sometimes rival lay. The blast from the attack had thrown him nearly 20 feet, and it would have hurled him farther had he not been stopped by one of the huge trees that covered the face of the island. Though I couldn't see where it had come from because of his fur color, I noticed blood covering the ground around him, and his chest was moving so little as to be almost undetectable. Some part of me refused to believe what my eyes were telling me.

_No! He has to be asleep or something!_

I could feel the darkness inside me rising to the surface, but I didn't care anymore. All I wanted was to get that murderer's head and crush it beneath my shoe. I realized suddenly that I had been shaking Knuckles as I would if he were only asleep. I removed my hands from his dying form as my anger finally pass the point of all control.

"As you can see, you cannot hope to defeat me. Just like your friend… you. are. doomed!"

"Well, why don't we test that theory of yours!" My voice came out in that breathy, _wrong_ sounding tone that I had only heard two other times. I knew even without looking that my fur had turned a jet black and my pupils had vanished, changing my eyes into glowing white shapes in the night. I felt a dark power whirling around me. The mist of pure energy eclipsed everything around me, changing into a miniature tornado with me at its eye. My hands became tight fists at my sides, and the tornado exploded outward in a shockwave strong enough to uproot some of the trees near me.

With the kind of power I now possessed, Chaos Control was a breeze, even without an emerald. I appeared twenty feet above and behind him and used a burst of energy to make me fall even faster than gravity would normally make me. Before he could react, my foot connected with the back of his head, snapping it forward with a painful sounding crack. Using his skull like a trampoline, I landed a few feet away with my back to him. My hearing, boosted along with all my other senses, picked up a slight change in the air behind me, causing me to whirl around. Where by all rights he ought to have been lying dead after I broke his neck, he was flying at me, fist extended and charged with enough energy to kill or severely wound me, even in this form.

"Heh, this is too easy!"

With that said, I swiped my right arm crossways from my left shoulder, the side of my fist slamming into his ear midway through its trip. The punch hurled him toward the side of a cliff, but he managed to flip around and hit feet first. The smirk he had worn a few minutes ago was gone, and it was obvious he was taking me much more seriously than he had been.

_Good, just the way I like it._

Without wasting time to talk, he threw himself back into the air with enough force to blast a deep hole in the cliff. This time, he was holding a ball of energy about as big as my head, and, to stop me from knocking him away like last time, he had an energy barrier in front of him. However, I was way ahead of him. As the orb passed through where my head had been moments before, I was already below him and floating on my back. I spun my whole body around to give my kick the maximum amount of force possible. I wasn't content with just that move though. With a flicker of thought I was floating above him, my chaos infused fist waiting when his limp body came flying up to me. Again though, I chaos controlled. This time I appeared on the ground below him, a black aura surrounding my body.

"CHAOS BLAST!" I savored the sudden look of fear on the mans face an instant before he was engulfed in the miniature atom bomb I had just set off. For a normal person, that would mean instant death, but I knew that he would survive. Quickly I froze time again, this time searching through all the black energy with my mind to find his location and the direction in which he was going. I sensed him immediately, heading in the general direction of the Altar, still riding the shockwave of the blast. I cut the chaos control when I was right in front of him, charging all my remaining energy into the palm of my extended right hand. In less than a second, the back of his head landed in my hand, and I tightened my grip so he couldn't get away. He dangled helplessly in my grasp as we floated thirty feet above the trees. His legs swung frantically, but uselessly, seeing as I was much shorter than he was, he was unable to bend his legs backwards far enough to hit me. For a second I savored the horror emanating from him.

"Well, looks like you had better go think up a new theory… in the afterlife!" As my sentence ended, my voice dropped to a low hiss, and I whispered the last words in his ear.

At that moment, I released my hold on the immense energy in my body, letting it blast out through my palm. The beam hurled him all the way across the island, ending in a spectacular crash landing that made a grassy knoll into a new crater and uprooted all the trees in the immediate area.

Satisfied that my enemy was dead, I lowered the cushion of power I was floating on to the ground, releasing my dark form. As I did, my exhaustion hit me like a physical blow. I fell to my knees, suddenly feeling every inch of my bruised body.

"mwhaha**hahaha**HAHAHA**HAHA**!!"

The laugh echoed across the island, causing every hair on my body to stand strait up. My body refused to respond to my mind, leaving my frozen on my knees.

_How could he be alive!?!?!?!_

My head was filled with that hated emotion know as… _Fear. _It froze my body more efficiently than ice. A flash of lightning lit up the area, at least enough for me to realize I was near where Knuckles lay. The same laugh drifted in from far away, and yet it seemed like it was right next to me. The sound added to my already considerable anger, but in my current condition it was simply impotent fury.

_Where is he??_

Even as I thought that, my question was answered. A rip seemed to appear in the air in front of me, and out of it stepped the man, all traces of the fight removed except for his torn and mud stained jacket. He said nothing, he knew now at least, that I wasn't one to be trifled with. But just as plainly as I could see that, I could see too what he and I both knew. I was defeated. I watched with a strange detachment as he began to charge up another attack. I once heard said that when you are about to die, your life flashes before your eyes. It did not seem to be so for Sonic the Hedgehog. I thought about my friends, one by one.

_Tails. _The poor kit already lost so much so early in his life, yet he had always managed to smile. His parents, Cosmo, and now me? Where would it end for the poor guy? I was the last person who was really his family. I was his big brother. He had barely know his parents, that's probably what made there loss livable. Cosmo he had known only for a short time, but it was obvious how he felt about her. He hadn't gotten over that loss, and personally, I doubted he ever would, at least completely. But I had known him most of his life, from his troubled childhood on the streets till now. I wished fervently that this didn't have to happen, not for me, for him.

_Knux. _He might be irritable most days, and might fight with me a lot, but he was still one of my closest friends in the world. I didn't worry about him too much; after all, I would see him soon. Wherever I was going, he either was already there, or would be joining me shortly.

_Shadow._ It would be nice to see him again. I mean, we fought all the time, hated each others guts, and the last time I saw him he had given me one of the biggest bruises I had ever gotten, but he had died for me and my friends. I had told everyone that he was probably just fine somewhere in the galaxy, but that was just to raise their spirits. I felt the power of that egg, hell, I was the one who blew it up. It'd take a miracle for him to have survived that. Maybe he'd give me a tour of the afterlife when I got there…

_Cream. _The girl looked up to me as her hero. She would be crushed when she figured out what happened. Again, I wished I didn't have to die. I didn't want to put her through this.

_Rouge._ On the bright side, At least I wouldn't have to tell her about Knuckles' death. I had my suspicions that the two liked each other, though hey, what would I know?

_Chris._ I was glad he wasn't here anymore. He would live his life out happily on Earth, thinking I was just fine. For a moment I wondered if humans and animals go to the same place when they die. I hoped so, I was really looking forward to seeing him some day. From what I understood about the time lag between our dimensions, he would probably be the first of my friends to show up.

The images just kept coming. _Vector, Espio, Charmy, Vanilla, Cosmo, _on and on, till at last I got to the one person I was both anticipating and fearing.

_Amy. _Of all my friends, Amy was the one who really confused since I saved her life, the girl had followed me everywhere. She had changed so much since that first day. Growing taller, and most _definitely _stronger. She learned how to summon that huge hammer from nowhere somehow. Come to think of it, I never _had_ asked her just how the heck she did that. I had been meaning to… guess I just forgot. Over and over, she had hinted, well, shoved it in my face actually, that she was in love with me. Now that I thought about it, she had never actually said those three words. Maybe she felt that they were simply too important to just say, that they had some special meaning. Yeah, that sounded like her.

For the first time in my life, I wondered, did I love her back? At first, I had thought of her infatuation as some silly crush, a passing fancy that would end as suddenly as it started. She proved me wrong. Not once, but again and again. No matter what I did, she just kept coming back to me. Actually, it started to scare me a bit. I wasn't used to someone caring so much about me that they would follow me into any danger, help against any threat, without even being asked. In fact, when I specifically told them not to. I remembered the time I finally put my foot down.

"_Amy!" My voice was in that slightly annoyed tone that only Amy seemed to bring out of me. I had turned around to see her following me towards the city, where old Eggbutt was attacking… _again_. "What did I just tell you five minutes ago!?"_

_She skidded to a halt and stated in a nonchalant voice, "To stay back at the workshop and not follow you."_

"_Amy, why don't you ever listen to me when I tell you to stay behind?!" I was really getting exasperated with her. "All I'm trying to do is make sure you're safe!"_

_She clasped her hands together. I had a pretty good idea of what was coming. "You're trying to make sure I'm safe…" she repeated quietly. In an instant she had a hurge grin on her face and her voice became high-pitched and excited. "Because you like me!" Now she was teasing me! That was it!_

"_Amy, every time you follow me you just cause more trouble! I can't save you every time you do something dumb to get yourself captured!" I realized what I had just blurted out, and wished I could take it back. I could see her getting ready to cry. Two things were apparent from her face. First, she hadn't been trying to tease me, and second, I had really hurt her feelings. "No! Gah, that's not what I meant to say!"_

"_But its what you meant." She turned and walked away slowly, head hanging low. I started to move towards her, I really hated it when I made her feel bad. I mean, she was my friend! I was stopped as a large explosion came from behind me, the direction of the city. I took off running._

_25 minutes later I found myself completely submerged in water. I was yanked out of the oversized aquarium and lifted into the air by the chains attached to my wrists and feet._

"_Well Sonic, having a fun swim?" I glared at my nemesis across the basement of his lab. I opened my mouth to insult him, but he just laughed and dunked me back into the thing I most hated in all the world. I was getting sick of it, so I yelled anyway. That was when I realized that I had just let all my oxygen go when I opened my mouth. My struggles got increasingly desperate, and increasingly weaker as I began to black out from lack of air. _

_I woke up lying on one of the comfortable beds in Tails' lab. Still a bit disoriented, it took me a moment to notice something was lying on my chest. I opened my eyes, which quickly adjusted, turning the pink blur I saw into the sleeping, tearstained face of Amy Rose. She had apparently been sitting in a chair next to my bed, but had fallen asleep and fallen forward. I noticed her mouth move._

"_Sonic." It was only a whisper, but she repeated it, this time louder. "Sonic. Sonic! SONIC!" She sat up, her eyes wide open, fear showing on her face._

Ah, a nightmare…

"_Sonic!" This time, it was a joyous shout; she had apparently noticed that I was awake. Next thing I knew, I was in one of her crushing hugs. _

"_Ahg, Amy, you're kinda strangling me!" _

"_Oops, sorry." Her face turned red and she let me go. To my relief, she seemed to have forgotten the argument completely._

"_What happened anyway? Eggman had me and then… I was here." _

_She smiled at my question, obviously she had been waiting to tell me this. Most likely because she had been involved in my rescue._

"_Well, Tails came running in shouting that you had been captured by Eggman, so we got in the Tornado and took of to rescue you! As we flew over, I jumped out, broke in from the roof and fought my way down to you!" At this, she stood up and began describing how she had beaten up each robot, complete with a reenactment. I just hoped she didn't drop her hammer; the way she was swinging it around that would cause some pretty big damage. "…and then I broke into the basement and saw you in a tank of water! I gave old Eggie a nice lump on the head to match his belly, then smashed the glass to free you! You were chained up, and you had swallowed a lot of water and weren't breathing for a bit!" She paused for a minute, then continued. "Anyways, I freed you from the chains just as Tails showed up and we took you back here!" She clasped her hands behind her back and grinned, expecting me to praise her. She had most likely exaggerated a lot of that, so I turned my head to Tails, who had arrived when he heard her yelling my name, although he hadn't gone beyond the doorway till Amy had finished swinging her hammer around. _

_To my surprise, he nodded enthusiastically, confirming Amy's entire story with the words, "You shoulda seen her Sonic! She was really on a roll!"_

Thinking back, something struck me as odd about that memory. Specifically, the point where she had paused suddenly while describing my rescue. She had sounded like she was on a sugar-high, so why did she hesitate… The words, "…weren't breathing for a bit" echoed a few times through my head. I thought of her face when she paused. Red… Cherry red…

_You gotta be kidding me! There is no way Amy gave me mouth to mouth!_

I grinned like an idiot, seeing as I was about to die. I just couldn't help it; the idea that that would be the last thing I thought was just hilarious. I ran my question to myself over in my head once more. Did I love her? That all depended; what was love? I sure had no idea.

_She seems to be quite the expert. Perhaps… I'll ask her when I see her again._

If one could truly be ready for death, then I was as close as I could be. The sound of a breaking twig reached my ears. It was time. I looked back up at the man, and smiled a smile that was both taunting, and yet content.

_I am free, but where I can rest, he must go on._

And somehow, I knew that it was more of a punishment than I could have ever dealt him. I looked on calmly as the bolt of energy flew from his hand and began to cross the 30 or so feet between us, gathering speed as it went. A golden light filled my eyes as the bolt hit me.

_So this is what its like to die…_

It was kind of pleasant actually. I didn't feel any pain, in fact I could feel my wounds being healed and my energy rejuvenated. I could even hear someone someone shouting angrily. Wait, what??

"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT FOR?!"

The enraged shout came from just in front of me, and I opened my eyes to see who it was.

"Wha! Shadow??" I was surprised that my brain didn't explode. I had thought I was going to die, and now a person that just seconds ago I was sure was dead had just saved my life. Needless to say, it was taking a while to sink in, and my mouth was currently on auto-pilot.

"YOU!" Shadow completely ignored me, instead he was facing the man. "CHAOS BLAST!" As the blinding red light filled my vision, I threw my arm up in front of my eyes, as if to ward off a blow.

_For all the good that will do. Shadow just saved my life… and now _he_ is gonna kill me._

To my surprise, the red energy wave passed over me without affecting me in the slightest. I jumped up and took in the scene in front of me.

Super Shadow floated about 10 feet in front of me, and anything within 30 meters of him was completely wiped out. That is, except for me and a female yellow hedgehog I didn't recognize. She was wearing what seemed to be a special forces uniform. It reminded me of what the GUN always wore, except tailored to fit an anthropomorphic animal. Her fur was colored a bright yellow while her eyes were green. Her quills were waist length and were brown down to the tips, which were apparently dyed blue.

Attempting to draw attention away from the condition I had just been in, I decided to annoy Shadow a bit.

"Hey Shadow, did you get a girlfriend while you were away?"

His response came with one of his signature glares. It looked like he had had plenty of practice wherever he had been. "Understand this right now Sonic. If you _ever_ suggest, or even think that she is my girlfriend, I will kill you myself. And I would really rather not have to do that."

Completely ignoring the dirty look he was sending my way, I continued. "Really? Why? Are you worried I might win?"

"No." He scoffed at my suggestion. "There's no way you could touch me now. Not with some of the things I've learned. But, as much as I hate to admit it, I am going to need your help on this one."

I gave him a mock disbelieving look, then proceeded to run around in circles with my hands on my head, deciding to have a bit more fun while I was at it. "AHHHH!! The Ultimate Life Form is asking for help. AHHH!! Shad, why did you have to doom the world!?"

This time, his glare was enough to stop even me from laughing. "Three things Faker. One, I'm proud, but not stupid. Only a complete idiot would refuse help when fighting an enemy who apparently can't be killed. Two. I'm not _asking_ for help. Either you help, or I'll just blast you right now. And three, if you ever call me by that ridiculous nickname again, I will make you _wish _I had killed you where you stand. Now, hurry up and get moving before that guy comes back."

It was apparent from the look in his eyes that those were not idle threats. A voice, which I immediately recognized as the girl's, came from behind me. "I would do what he says. The only time I've ever seen him this angry is when that guy came back from the dead the first time."

_Hmm. Pissed off Shadow or psycho freak who can't be killed. No choice at all._

"All right all right! I'll help. I was going to in the first place Shadow, there was no need for threats."

"Remember this too Sonic. I don't make threats." Though I knew he was still pretty angry, he once again seemed completely unemotional except for the smirk he now wore. At a snap of his fingers, the Chaos Emeralds appeared in the air around me. As I felt their power flow through me, a feeling of responsibility came with it. I knew exactly what I could do if I used this power for the wrong ends, and that knowledge had a sobering effect.

"Shadow, what are we going to do about Knuckles?" My comment caused him to glance in the direction I indicated, and when he saw Knuckles he frowned in concentration.

"CHAOS REGENERATION!" An orb of energy blasted from his hands and hit Knuckles, creating a blinding light for a moment. However, when it cleared I was relieved to see that his condition had stabilized. I knew Chaos Regeneration was an unreliable power. Unless we got him some real medical attention soon then he was definitely going to die, and even if we did there was still a good chance of the worst happening. We would have to finish this, and fast.

With a grunt Shadow rotated to face the female hedgehog. "Cassy, dial 489-3849, then wait here till help comes." I watched as Shadow silenced Cassy's protests with another look that said very clearly "Shut up or else", and even I wasn't stupid enough to ask or else what.

"Gee, you really need to learn some manners Shadow!"

"Get moving before I change my mind." I just rolled my eyes and shrugged, then shot upward alongside him. Though we only traveled for a second, we were well passed the highest point on Angel island when we stopped. About ten feet in front of us, the man floated down, almost like a leaf.

As if by agreement, no one spoke. I don't know how long we floated there, but I spent most of it in silent conversation with Shadow. Apparently, he had found that when in our Super forms we could talk to each other through our minds, though we could only hear words meant for us, and it only worked between us.

At exactly the same time, we teleported. Shadow appeared directly in front of the guy, already moving to punch him away. I had to admit, that guy was fast. He managed to throw his arms, reinforced by a strong energy barrier, in the way of the punch, but it did him no good. Shadow had expected him to do that, and so I had chaos controlled directly behind him, and started to spin. As he flew backwards from the force of the attack, his back ran strait into my spindash. Because of the direction I was spinning, he flew strait down toward Angel Island, but managed to begin flying again a little way above the tree level.

I watched as Shadow teleported down towards the man and then threw as many Chaos Spears as he could use at once. As I watched them fly at their target, I found the answer to one of my questions.

_He wasn't kidding. He's a lot better than when I last saw him. His Chaos Spears are much more accurate and I'm guessing they'll do a lot more damage. That must be how I survived Chaos Blast. He can choose what targets he wants to exempt from the attack._

To my surprise, the Chaos Spears did no damage whatsoever. About a foot and a half from the mans body they hit a spherical energy field, and bent around the outside of it to hit the mountain behind him. Too late though, he realized what _I _had been doing. I appeared behind him in a flash of golden light, chaos energy already exploding outward. I may not have been as good as Shadow was, but I could still create a lot of destruction with my Chaos Blast. The shockwave hurled him through the air… and right into another Chaos Spear barrage from Shadow. However, he recovered from that attack, and with a swirl of dark power three tendrils of pure black energy lashed out at us. The way they moved reminded me of the power blur Shadow and I left behind when running.

"Sonic! Get out of the way! If those things touch you, then you're in trouble."

At the last second I teleported out of the way, just to prove I could do it. "Seriously Shadow! These things are easy!" His only response was a sharp laugh.

My only warning of the next attack was a slight buzz in my ear a moment before it hit. The tendril when viewed up close seemed to be a two dimensional beam of power about a foot wide and slightly pointed at the tip. I didn't have long to wonder what the heck it was before it rammed my chest. The next thing I knew, my body was aching all over, my Super form was gone and I was lying about two feet into the side of the mountain. Shadow was on one knee a few feet away panting. He too had lost his super form, but something else seemed wrong with him. His face was pale and his eyelids looked like they were fighting to stay open. His legs and arms were trembling with exhaustion, and he looked like he would pass out at any second. Then I noticed that a large amount of my energy had vanished, and I felt like I had been running for two days strait.

"HA HA HA!" The loud laugh caused us both to look up. Above us floated the man, a very familiar looking golden ball of energy in his left hand, which was held strait up in the air. A closer look at both of us told me that wisps of the same golden energy were floating away from us and heading to the orb.

I heard a pained gasp from beside me and I looked over at Shadow, who was now looking even worse than before. "Sonic. He's… draining all the chaos energy… I need to live. Without it, I will fall unconscious… indefinitely." His voice was halting, and he gasped as though it was hard for him to draw in air. "Stop him _now._" I tried my best to get up, but I was pinned by some sort of invisible force field.

"Fools. You can't stop me. Neither of you can even move!" As much as it irked me to admit it, he was right. All I could do was growl and mutter at him, and all Shadow could do was lie there unmoving.

To everyone's surprise, at that moment a gunshot rang out from above us.

"Just like you silly people to forget about the girl. You think I'm in the special forces for nothing?" And then I watched in surprise, albeit a very pleased state of surprise, as Cassy's next shot went right through the man's head. The bad news was, he simply burst into a dark mist, then reformed a few feet away looking a lot madder than he had been. The good news was that Shadow and I were free, and we jumped to our feet and got ready to fight.

"You stupid bitch! You'll pay for that!"

"Ah ah ah! Language! Your manners are worse than Shadow's. And that's saying something." I knew as I saw the man throw himself through the air at Cassy that I wouldn't be there in time. I started running anyway. As I cleared the top of the flat ledge she was on, I got one good look around before the man struck. It was about 30 meters across, and it had more than a few trees, since we were below the tree line of the mountain. Cassy was standing with an semi-automatic pistol in her hand under one of the larger trees. Just as the man passed under the outer branches of the tree two things happened at once. The first was Shadow appeared about 5 feet away. The second was that a very familiar bat dropped from the tree and introduced the guys skull to her boot.

For a second I stared at the unexpected help, then blurted the first thing that came to mind. I seemed to be doing that a lot today. "What the- Rouge?"

Before she could answer me, she had to dodge a blast from the man, who had recovered from yet another fatal attack.

"Gee, that man has got as much bone on his skull as he has rudeness." I glanced over at the sarcastic bat, who was currently pretending to dust herself off.

"You can say that again Rouge. So far he's been blown up uncounted times, and I broke his neck twice, and yet he's still fighting us! If anything, he's persistent!"

"My sounds like you boys really need my help!"

At that point Shadow broke in, his usual frown returned to his face. "Actually Rouge, I can handle this just fine. The one who needs your help is Knuckles."

Rouge chuckled when Shadow mentioned the name, then asked, "What has that echidna got himself into _now_?"

Her smile vanished when she saw the pained look on my face. "It's bad isn't it?" In response I only nodded. "Take me there."

"Cassy, go with Rouge. As soon and you reach Knuckles, take Rouge's chopper to the Station Square hospital." Rouge looked at Shadow in surprise.

"How did you know I took a chopper?"

Shadow grunted then replied. "I saw you flying in. Did you expect me to miss you with all the noise you made?"

"Are you saying that you knew all along what Cassy and Rouge were going to do?!" This time it was my turn to use an angry glare.

"Obviously. Now, get moving! Sonic, get ready to hit him hard when I distract him. Other than that, stay away. I've got a score to settle." I shrugged, knowing it was useless to protest as Shadow chaos controlled to who knows where to finish the fight.

* * *

So, how did I do guys? Those who have read this before will notice that this chapter has a huge section that was never there in the old story. Anyways, thank you all who were thoughtful enough to review! Also, seeing as I am trying to keep my author's notes tiny, I will be putting more and more info on my profile, such as periodic updates on how I am doing. I really suggest you keep an eye on my profile page now more than ever. In case you are too lazy to do that though, I will post a warning here too.


	6. Chapter 5: A Dark and Stormy Night

**The Maze of Time, Part One: Second Chances**

Hello ladies and gents, welcome to another chapter of TMoT.

Two very important things I want to address before we get started. First off…

**Anonymous reviews are ON. That means that even you guys WITHOUT a FF account can review my story!**

And secondly, I have a question for the reviewers to answer. I cannot stress how important this question is to me.

**Are you able to visualize the story in your head? This goes double for fight scenes. If you can, please tell me, if not, I want to know where and why PLEASE. **

This question is so important to me, I will copy and paste it to _every single author's note _that I write. If my readers are unable to visualize my story, then I have failed my task as a writer.

And, if you'll notice, my chapter title is yet again a terrible joke. Enjoy. (P.S. in case you didn't see the last A/N, the planet Shadow spent the last three years on is now named Terra.)

Disclaimer: I own EVERYTHING! Disregard last statement please. I own only my plot and evil guy. And my computer. And my… Oh never mind. All Sonic characters and locations belong to SEGA. (Well the Angel Island base is mine anyhow.)

* * *

**Chapter 5 - A Dark and Stormy Night**

**High Above Angel Island, 10:05 PM**

_Chaos Control_

I appeared in the sky high above Angel Island, my air shoes already firing off their jets. In front of me the nameless man stood in the air as if he were on solid ground. As I materialized, the man flung his hand out and began to drain chaos energy again.

"Fool me once shame on you. Fool me twice shame on me. The same trick won't work a second time." I growled.

As I felt the tug in my chest that meant he was draining my energy, I twisted one of the gold bands on my wrist. A faint golden sphere flickered into existence around me and began yanking all the energy from the area to me. The man frowned and quickly cut off his assault so he could protect his own power.

"There are plenty of other ways to defeat you. Like this!" Dark mist exploded outward from him, forming a hollow orb with me at its center. The mist then suddenly morphed into about one hundred copies of him. I simply crossed my arms over my chest and smiled; I had expected that one eventually.

"Idiot. I am the Ultimate Life Form!" With that, the three emeralds that still had any substantial amount of power appeared in front of me. Green, Red, and Purple. Perfect. I had a special connection with those emeralds, allowing me to use their energy much more efficiently. It was inexplicable, but they just seemed to react to my presence, becoming more powerful for me than for anyone else. I dropped my left arm to my side, at the same time raising my right into the air and turning slightly side on to where the original man was. The emeralds floated into my body, and I absorbed both their physical presence and their power. At the same time, one hundred golf ball size orbs of golden energy materialized around me.

"Play time is over, fool." I swung my arm down so it was extended in front of me, palm outward, and just as my enemies began to move, one hundred golden orbs picked their targets and took off at the speed of light. As each hit, the target's body flashed a brilliant gold before dissipating in a deadly imitation of chaos control.

I had less than a second before the remaining duplicates were on me. Luckily, my reflexes were as good as ever, and I threw the first attacker away with a spindash. Before anyone else could reach me, I started ricocheting between my enemies, remembering what happened when I shot them back in the city. As I hit them with homing attacks, the clones vaporized into the black mist that they were made of.

_If they do the same thing as they did back on Terra, then that mist trail will take me right to the real one. Heh, too easy._

Sure enough, the mist floated right toward one of my attackers. Still spinning, I slammed into the clone I had targeted, then switched direction and headed straight for the man. For a moment, I thought I would hit him, but at the last minute he burst into that dark mist. I cut my spin off immediately, then whirled around using my air shoes to skid to a stop. I was barely in time to twist out of the way of a blast of energy, then throw up a shield which bent the follow up attacks around me.

_That was close. I'll have to be a little more careful._

Too late, I realized what he had been doing. He had used his remaining copies to send the blasts at me, effectively blinding me for an instant. His fist slammed into my gut before I could dodge, knocking the breath out of my lungs. I found myself free falling towards Angel Island. Luckily, I managed to land on my feet in the middle on the island's forest. As I caught my breath, I thought of a plan using some of the moves I had created in the woods outside of town on Terra.

_Chaos Control!_

I came out of my time freeze in the middle of a homing attack. I slammed into my target then bounced toward another, watching the mist all the while. After my third attack, I had located my enemy. I ricocheted off the fourth copy and headed for another clone, attempting to get a little closer so he wouldn't have time to dissipate again.

I changed direction in mid-air and headed straight for the real man. Before I hit, I had time for a quick glance around at the remaining 20 or so clones. If I judged the distance right, the trick I was about to pull off would kill two and hurt the original. As I hit, my victim managed to throw his hands into the way of my body and use his strength to stop me from hitting him. The fool had fallen right into my trap. I stopped my body from spinning, but allowed my right arm to continue swinging downward toward his head. The chaos spear I had been charging while I attacked his clones blew up in the man's face, just as I teleported out of range.

_Hmmm I destroyed three copies. That worked better than I expected._

Sadly, the assault had not destroyed it's primary target. Instead of being dead, he was standing there looking angry and quite charred. I half expected him to scream insults at me like some kind of sailor, but instead he simply nodded to his remaining 17 copies, and then commenced firing more energy bursts. Acting quickly, I threw myself into a back flip to avoid the first shot, then turned the flip into a spindash to deflected the next three. A quick smoke screen and Chaos Control then gained me a moment's respite, which I put to very good use. When the smoke cleared and they could see me again, they continued their attack. To their evident surprise, my body simply seemed to absorb the powerful beams. A second too late, they noticed the red glow that surrounded my fur for what it was. Power.

While I served in the Special Forces on Terra, I didn't use my chaos powers, worried that, when impressed with my power, my superiors would send me on impossible mission after impossible mission till one day I wouldn't come back. However, I knew very well that after that last fight in the Meterex War I had become famous. For someone like me, that wasn't a good thing. Inside me I held the secrets to eternal life and infinite power. I knew that one day, some one would find me, and when they did, I did not intend to be out of practice. Every day, I spent at least an hour in the woods outside of town training and experimenting with my powers. The result was new abilities that I didn't even think were possible. For instance, precisely targeted Chaos Blasts.

I put my right arm in front of me and turned sideways to present small a target as possible. In seconds, the energy that had covered my whole body was concentrated on the palm of my right hand. Though my eyes were immune to it, the crimson light was blinding my enemies.

_Perfect. CHAOS CONTROL!_

The only warning the man had was my palm pressing against his gut mere moments before the blast. As the explosion ripped through his last remaining copies, his whole body shredded apart, changing from flesh into black mist.

_He must be made of that stuff! That explains a lot._

As the mist drifted away, I flipped into a spindash. The laser meant for my head bounced right back to its source, who simply changed the part of him that it would have hit into mist till it had passed.

"HA! That weak an attack will never hurt me! HA HA HA HA HA HA!"

I smiled in triumph before replying in a smug voice. "It wasn't meant to."

"What? What are you talking about!?" I heard fear in his voice. Good, he was no longer underestimating me.

As an answer, I reached out with my mind, touching all the particles of chaos energy that I had been spreading throughout the air around us during the battle. Before he could figure out what was going on, I threw both my hands straight out and hurled the energy that filled the air at him. The result was a tsunami of ultra-dense air slamming into him around the speed of light. As it flew towards him, I allowed the chaos energy to flare up to its brightest, successfully blinding him.

"Sonic Wind! Take that you egotistical idiot! You're worse that Eggman!"

The blast from my friend sent him flying straight downward toward the peak of the mountain where I was already standing.

"Say goodbye you fool! This will teach you to mess with the Ultimate Life Form! CHAOS CONTROL!" As I said the last sentence, I reached out to all the chaos energy in the area, pulling it to myself. I was slightly surprised to find that Angel Island was covered with chaos energy, but the real help came from the Master Emerald. When I touched it with my mind, it was like falling into a hurricane of pure power, aching to be used. And I used it. Every bit that my immortal body could take, and then some. The portal that opened above my head was not even the normal blue it was so powerful. The white light completely blinded me, and the power assaulted all my senses. I heard a scream of pain from my opponent as he flew through the portal, and I sealed it immediately.

"Hey we did it Shadow!" My easily excitable counterpart dropped down beside me on the mountaintop. I ignored him as usual and began walking towards the edge, but stumbled on the uneven surface. Every muscle in my body seemed to protest even the slightest movement. I was more exhausted than I had been for three years. "Umm you all right?"

"I'm fine." I snapped back at him, knowing I was most defiantly _not_ fine. However bad I looked, I felt ten times worse. Every last bit of my energy was drained, except for enough to keep me conscious, and I wouldn't have even that if my inhibitors hadn't held it back.

"Sheesh, no need to get mad at me. I was only trying to be friendly!" I shook my head and jumped lightly down the mountainside, too tired to argue with Sonic. As I reached the bottom, he dropped down beside me. He wasn't smiling or being his usual insufferable self, instead he was simply waiting calmly till I had caught my breath. I silently nodded my thanks to him for not taunting me and understanding that the last thing I wanted to hear was a joke. "Follow me, our base is over here. You can rest in the spare room there."

I nodded again, then skated off behind him.

* * *

**Angel Island, Sonic Team Base, 2:30 AM**

"Great, isn't _this _situation familiar." I glared at the TV that seemed to be determined not to show anything interesting. For the second time in one day, I found myself sprawled on the couch and bored out of my mind. It had been four hours since Shadow had finally gotten rid of that crazy freak, and now that he was in bed and Knuckles was at the hospital, I was alone.

I jumped up off the couch and ran to the other side of the base at full speed looking for something to do. I ended up in the indoor tennis court playing a game against myself. In about ten seconds I had won three games in a row and I was bored again. Eventually, I found myself back on the couch. I tried to fall asleep, after all it was 2:30 in the morning, but my adrenaline level was still way too high for that.

Another flash of lightning lit up the dark room. I sighed, hoping that the storm would stop sometime soon so I could go see how Knux was doing. Though I wouldn't admit it to anyone, my jumpiness was not the result of an overdose of adrenaline. Well, it partly was. The fight had affected me more than I would ever let on. Getting such a close brush with death would mess with anyone's head, and if you combined that with seeing one of your best friends getting blown up right in front of you and watching the guy who did it laugh about it…

I violently shook my head, as if my thoughts were something I could dislodge with a quick movement. This was why I hated it when nothing was going on. I was a super hero in the minds of the people. Not a care in the world, invincible, unstoppable. I gave a snort. Well, guess that got proved wrong today. I was always on the move, it was just my character. Just like I couldn't stand still in real life for long, I did my best never to dwell on one thought for long. The past was the past after all, learn from it, then leave it in the dust. Sadly, there were times that my mind didn't really want to cooperate. Like now. I frowned.

_Gah! Screw this! _

I took off running like a maniac, racing out the door as if an army was after me. Ignoring the rain, I shot around the island as fast as my legs could carry me.

Running was my refuge. When I ran, my gloomier side was left in the dust. My whole mind was clean of any thought, simply enjoying the air blasting past my face, the total absence of sound showing that I was going faster than any troubles could ever go. But my speed was both a blessing and a curse. It made my running what it was, but it also made it so there was no way I could really run for a long time. Sometime I had to stop, and when I did, the world and all its troubles would be right there waiting to pounce. That was what happened this time, as with all the others. When I stopped, my mind went right back to where it was before I had stood up. I found myself sitting back on the same couch, except dripping wet and physically uncomfortable to go with my mental jumpiness.

I found myself grateful that Shads wasn't dead after all. I mean, we were rivals and all, but he understood me a lot better than he ever let on. I imagined what he must have been like before the whole 'Maria' incident. Actually, he and Maria were probably a lot like me and Tails. Still, I hadn't really been able to talk to anyone since I sent Amy away.

Yeah, Ames drove me crazy sometimes, actually most of the time, but really, she always new what to say to cheer any of us up. She sorta became the morale officer of the Team. When she actually acted her age, which had been a surprising percentage of the time at the point when I had removed her from the team, she had a way of understanding people's problems that still amazed me, even though I had seen her do it hundreds of times. With that, my thoughts started off on a slightly brighter path, though one that still made me wish I was doing something else. My mind wandered back to all the adventures that me and Amy and the rest of the Gang had had over the past few years. Slowly but surely, my thoughts went back to a few hours ago. I suddenly wished I had not started thinking about my relationship with Amy. Now I found myself analyzing everything I thought on the subject, trying to answer my question from earlier. Now that there was no prospect of dieing, I really, really didn't want to answer that. If I did, and it turned out the way I thought it was going, I would just be inviting more pain onto myself.

_Give it up Sonic, there is no way you can have anything even resembling a relationship while there are still people like Eggman around. In other words, NEVER._

Great now I just started talking to myself… could this day get _any _worse?

I remembered seeing an online poll the other day that asked people what my worst fear was. I don't know why it came to mind just then, it was one of those things that simply happened. Some people said the answer was water, some said Amy. Even others said I was afraid of my friends dying. But though they were all right in a way, only one person ever guessed what it really was. Their answer had been only one word long, but it had more affect on me than all the others combined.

_Fear._

For a long time, I sat there looking at it, as if by staring I could determine some long lost answer to the meaning of life. When I finally moved, it was to try and track down the person who knew so much about me, though I think now that in my heart I already knew the answer. It had been submitted anonymously from a public computer in Station Square, and after many dead ends I finally gave up, though now I wonder how it was that I didn't guess immediately. I though back to my earlier revelation. Amy. I had no proof, of course, but I didn't need any. All the other people who posted had good ideas, but no one but Amy was ever right. I hated water with a passion, and the confused feelings Amy stirred in me scared me. Somewhere in the portion of my mind I did my best to keep silenced, I feared for all my friends who fought along side me. Who wouldn't? But all those things were nothing compared to the thing that absolutely terrified me. Fear can destroy even the most intelligent mind, fear can ruin even the best reflexes, and once he has felt true fear, even the bravest person will hesitate to face it again. Fear is the one thing that can utterly and totally destroy a person, and I have seen it happened again and again first hand. I watched good men reduced to shivering wrecks when faced with the threat of the Metarex, and watched sensible people defying all logic in a mad rush to escape Eggman's robots, then jumping and quivering at the slightest whisper once they were, never to be the same again..

I glanced at my reflection in the top of the glass coffee table, noting my sudden likeness to Shadow. My usual smile was gone, replaced by the brooding frown of which my black doppelganger was master. Only the sheer ridiculousness of that scene turned my thoughts from the bottomless pit of "Shadowness" they had nearly fallen down. My mental joke livened me up a bit, causing me to smile again and sit up straighter. Then, the peace of the night was destroyed in one swift stroke.

I jumped about three feet in the air when a loud voice rumbled through the base. "I know you're in there! Come out you beasts!" I looked franticly around, but there was no apparent source of the sound. All the lights in the base were still off, and the passive sensors of the base mainframe would have warned it of anything over the size of a pebble coming near us. Seeing no readily addressable source of the voice, I went to plan B: tell whoever it was to come out.

"Show yourself whoever you are!" Only silence and echoes responded to my challenge.

_Great, don't tell me I'm hearing things… if that woke up Shadow I'll never hear the end of it!_

To my mixed relief and annoyance, the mysterious speaker did as I asked. The TV flickered on, showing a face that, at first, I didn't recognize as the one of the man we had just been fighting. Though he had not seemed to physically age, he looked somehow ancient now, but by far the two most striking changes were the painful looking burns that covered his face, and his eyes. They had a haunted, wild look about them, seeming more like the eyes of some lunatic that had come straight from a permanent ward in an asylum somewhere. Then of course, I reminded myself that the guy was a lunatic, still the changes where interesting, seeing as he had only been gone for two hours.

"Wow, how did you get that beat up in just the few hours you were gone?" To my immense satisfaction, the question seemed to make him even angrier than he was.

"You won't be so smug for long you pathetic little rodent! Locking me in the Maze for a hundred years got you a ticket for the most painful path to Hell that its possible for me to give you!" When he said how long he had been trapped, a shocked and confused look passed over my face, and before I could hide it, he saw. That seemed to make him inexplicably happy. "You really know nothing about the Maze do you?? HAH! I see now, you friend only discovered how to send me there by accident, and you both have no idea what you really did or who I am!"

"Now _that _is where you're wrong." The voice caused both of us to look toward the other side of the room. Shadow stood, looking more energized than I had ever seem him, even though he had been exhausted a mere four hours before. "I know exactly what you are, I would have to be blind not to. You are one of the Shades that the humans have all those stories about. But those stories are simply tales, except for small bits of truth are they not? You seem to bear slight resemblances to vampires as well. Did you happen to start those stories as well? Anyway, there is no way you are a natural being here. The only way you could survive the place you call the Maze for a hundred years is for you to be from beyond the limits of this world."

I stood staring at Shadow, and silence once again reigned through the house. It didn't last. The man looked long and hard at Shadow, then smiled one of those smiles that makes goose bumps appear all over your skin. " I see now why my leader wants you alive, with you knowledge and astute mind combined with your fighting prowess, you could be equal to or better than all of our other fighters put together if you had the proper training. As to your question, you are completely correct!" He suddenly sounded happy. In fact, his voice was almost gleeful. "I had so much fun creating those vampire stories! The fear they created was decidedly wonderful! Slip into a town, find some drunk fool out late and extract his juicy soul through his neck, along with all the blood of course! And the old haunted castle trick. The souls of weaklings and fools are never as delicious as those taken from brave and strong adventurers. Set up a castle, then wait and they come right to you! Oh, and those zombie tales! A quick transformation, simple illusionary work really, and bam you are a horrific undead monster set to devour the pitiful humans. Such fun!"

I glanced over at Shadow, who was doing nothing to hide his total disgust of this… _creature._ When he finally spoke, Shadow's response was preceded by his characteristic derisive snort that stung with the kind of venom only a professional could muster. "You honestly think I will join you. Right. You are a disgusting _thing_ not worthy of even existing. So what was it I'm supposed to say now? I'll never join you? Hmph. Anyway, go tell it to someone who will listen, cause the only thing you'll get from me is the wrong side of my fist."

The man glared daggers at Shadow, then shrugged and continued in a voice that made it obvious he was fighting to stay calm. "Well its not like I expected you to walk up and volunteer. You'll need a thorough reconditioning, maybe another convenient bout of amnesia, that almost worked last time."

I glanced sideways at Shadow, expecting him to be about ready to explode. Instead he seemed completely calm, that is until he opened his mouth. "Listen very closely whoever you are." His voice was impossibly quiet, and made any sane person want to put as much distance as they could between themselves and Shadow. When he started shouting, he was ready to kill the object of his wrath, but when he spoke in this smooth, deadly voice, you could tell he was ready to kill _everything_. "I swear right now that however long it takes, and whatever I have to go through, I will hunt you down, and when I do, I will send you to the damned Maze for the rest of eternity. You, as of now, are a dead man."

I glanced at the look on the mans face, and could tell he was profoundly glad to be far away from Angel Island, and couldn't wait to get even more distance between Shadow and himself. "It doesn't matter. In three hours all your friends will be dead and you won't remember a thing." He savored our odd looks, knowing we had no idea what he was talking about, but I didn't have to be as smart as Tails to know he was gong to tell us, and enjoy every minute of it. "Look at the sky." I took a step towards the wall socket for the computer, but it's advanced AI, courtesy of Tails, anticipated my request, and suddenly, the ceiling vanished and we were standing under the stars.

Actually, the computer just projected a view from a roof camera onto the ceiling, but it was a nice comparison. That is until I looked at the moon. Then all thoughts of nice were blocked out of my head, and I went into what Tails called my "fighting mode". Eclipsing part of the moon, was a giant black shape. At the tip, a green glow visible even from where we were as a buildup of immense power, shone like a billboard, telling us exactly what would happened in three hours. I glanced back at the TV, but the man had already cut the transmission after savoring our surprised stares.

Not one to be slowed down, I took action immediately. "Shadow, we are going to need help on this one. Since I'm more familiar with the city, I'll find out how the others are doing. You go find Tails, he lives in a mansion the government gave him as a reward for his work in fighting the Metarex. It's deep inside the forest at Mystic Ruins, I don't have a map , but the place isn't very hard to miss. Its right near a cliff." Shadow nodded, then left time behind with a flash of blue light as I ran out the door.

* * *

Yessssss! I must say, the fight scene in the first half of this chapter is my pride and joy. When creating it, I was faced with a dilemma. Namely, I didn't want to give Shadow new powers and combat moves, but the few the SEGA provided were inadequate for the epic sequences I wanted. That fight is the result, the combination of a tiny amount of new powers and my ingenuity with the old ones. For instance, the golf ball sized orbs move was just one hundred smaller-than-average chaos spears. In fact, the only real thing I have added to his repertoire is that I have assumed that he is able to completely control all chaos energy, which leads to interesting moves, such as his air tsunami.

And as I said before, this will now be present in ALL my A/Ns.

**Are you able to visualize the story in your head? This goes double for fight scenes. If you can, please tell me, if not, I want to know where and why PLEASE.**

I will have the next chapter up next week and possibly over the weekend if people start reviewing! :) (Take the hint guys)


	7. Chapter 6: The Tale of a Fox

**The Maze of Time, Part One: Second Chances**

Hey guys! That's right all, TWO UPDATES IN ONE DAY! This is as far as the story ever got before, so when the next chapter comes, it will be all new! All of you people better thank demonoflight69696 for reviewing, because that's the only reason I am putting up a second chapter now. However, I am still waiting for people to answer my question!

**Can you get a good mental picture of events in this story, or can you not? If not, where in the story is it not clear enough for you?**

I really, really, really, need to know this guys! Please tell me! I'm desperate! Anyway, here is one more chapter for all of you readers. When I come back later I want to see some reviews though k? Now, enjoy the longest chapter I have ever written. It is over 7,500 words long... wow.

And yet again, an atrocious pun for a title.

Disclaimer: Sonic and his friends along with all the locations (Mystic Ruins, Angel Island etc.) belong to SEGA. The manor belongs to Tails, and the Angel Island base belongs to Sonic. (lol I am sure that that joke is already old.)

* * *

**Chapter 6 - The Tale of a Fox**

**Tails' Mansion, Mystic Ruins, 2:45 AM  
**

"…It's right by a cliff."

I watched as Sonic ran out of the room and Shadow vanished with the usual flash. As Sonic left, a program changed the camera view to a storage room security cam just as Sonic skidded to a halt near the back of the room. Ten seconds of frantic running around later, Sonic found the package he was looking for and removed it from the shelf. As I had expected, the box contained the water shoes Chris had built for him during one of the first battles of the War. He quickly pulled on the shoes and placed his normal sneakers in the box, then put the box carefully on the shelf where it had been moments before. Right before he began to run, the program changed the feed again, this time to a camera in the corner of the entryway that was disguised inside a grandfather clock. The switching program was designed especially because of Sonic. I had fed all his tendencies and mannerisms into the database so it could predict with around 75% certainty where the super fast hedgehog would go next. Most of the time it also monitored all the recent conversations Sonic had engaged in and threw that into the equation as well, raising the chances of a correct guess by an large amount.

A normal person would not even be able to see the blur trail Sonic left as he passed, but my eyesight was almost as good as my brain. The program flipped through a few cameras hidden in the forests and caught a few flashes and sonic booms, but nothing else. Then I got results when a camera hidden inside the head of a fake mechanical squirrel caught Sonic slowing down at the edge of the island that was closest to town. Like he usually did when there was no other means of getting off the giant floating rock, and sometimes just for fun or to annoy me, he threw himself off the cliff toward the ocean with a wild yell.

_Sonic, one of these days those shoes will malfunction, and when I come to save you, there is _no_ way your gonna stop me from saying I told you so._

I rolled my chair away from one of the desks that sat against three walls of the dim room, shaking my head in mock exasperation. The slight smile that crossed my face lasted less time than water in a vacuum. I glanced around the room again. It was set up like a military command center, except slightly smaller. In essence, that was exactly what it was, except _much_ more advanced and built so that one man, or fox in this case, could monitor everything. I glanced toward a strange piece of equipment that looked something like a radar, but when you looked closer it was obvious that it wasn't. Actually, it was a sensor cluster that monitored the surrounding area for time space-time anomalies like Shadow's Chaos Control. From what I had gathered from the camera footage that was the reason for my presence in this stuffy command center, a device much like this one, exactly like in fact, had probably saved my friends lives by warning them of the approaching threat. I stood up to look closer, but found no flashing areas on the map of Mystic Ruins.

_Well I didn't expect Shadow to get it right on, I knew he'd have to teleport somewhere he had been, then search the remaining area on foot. Looks like he won't be here for a bit._

I set the scanner to warn me if it detected the strange oscillations of energy that Shadow's power inhibitors usually gave off, then turned and stared absently at a small red rose in a pot on one of the desks.

Even though it was late at night, I knew from the complex sensors installed on the roof of my mansion that the city was full to the brim with people. A long time ago, when I was a different person altogether, I would be out enjoying the sights of a calm night like this, but I hadn't left the sole inhabited rooms of the house, the ones in the very center, since I had arrived here almost a week ago. Though the Ruins where full of beautiful sights and the smell of the myriad of flowers that always grew wild here in the spring, I stayed where I was, mourning another flower, one that was, in my opinion, more beautiful that all the others put together. One that hadn't made it home to see these sights with me, like we had once promised each other. I leaned back in my chair and gave a deep sigh. I had become quite accustomed to these thoughts over the three years she had been gone.

After that last battle, I was broken. For a time I had thought to simply give up, but I quickly found that once you start the twisted game of life, there's no way out until death comes for you. When I saw her ghost on the auxiliary bridge, the image was surprisingly fitting. At the time I had been really getting to know her, it seemed for a short while to be something substantial, something real. Then, just as we came to the end, she vanished in the blast from the Sonic Cannon, just as her spirit faded away as she pulled herself close to me. I lost my childhood there in that bridge, lost the one person it hurt the most to lose, and for the journey home I locked myself in my cabin, fearing to go back on that bridge, fearing to face the others. Every time I saw their pitying looks, I cringed, every time I heard them tell me that they knew how I felt, and that it wasn't healthy to stay locked away from the world, I wanted to shout that they knew nothing, _nothing._ But I didn't. Instead, I handed the command over to Chris, who, having helped me with the Typhoon's construction, was easily able to fill in for me. Under his command, Sonic and the rest managed to unhook Eggman's ship from the Typhoon once we got inside Mobius' atmosphere.

That whole voyage I had said nothing and talked to no one, taking my meals through a lift system built into the walls of the cabin deck, allowing service droids to bring food and other items around the ship without being underfoot. When we landed on the beach below my cliff base, Amy chased everyone off the ship with her hammer, then left herself. I swapped control into my cabin, and from there activated the sliding landing pad so that it brought the ship inside the hanger at the bottom of the rock face. After it got inside, I shut the camouflaged door and headed up through the maze of tunnels I had created with some high tech digging bots I built, hoping for my old bed and a good night's sleep, for I didn't sleep at all on the two day voyage home. Instead, I got a nasty shock. My laboratory had been completely destroyed by a large tornado that had passed through while we were away. Luckily for me, some of the house keeping bots had had the presence of mind to take everything that would fit into the tunnels with them, so nothing was lost except the old Tornado bi-plane, an irony of which I was not unaware. I slept under the stars that night and the next, unwilling to go back to the Typhoon and the memories that seemed to lie in wait around every corner.

At first, I thought about completely dismantling the Blue Typhoon, but I ended up restoring it, stronger than ever, a monument to the bravery of one girl. The one thing I completely scrapped was the old power cannon, partly because it was outdated next to some new tech I had thought up in the middle of the night, and partly because I never wanted to see the damn thing again. It was a physical reminder of the blood on my hands, a reminder I definitely didn't need, since I managed to remember it without any help. I remembered it every waking moment, and relived it in my dreams.

Over the next month things stayed peaceful for the most part. I never really finished the work on the Typhoon; every few nights another idea would pop into my head, and no matter how hard it was I would always manage to build it. Then, things began to liven up again. The first thing that happened was that an agent from what the animals called their government, just some officials that volunteered for social work, came and announced that all the towns in the immediate vicinity had been saving money so that they could reward me for my part in the War. I stubbornly refused any reward till I found out that Sonic had told them what happened to my lab, and that they were just as stubborn as I was. Eventually, when confronted with a total unanimity against me, I gave in. Though I sanctioned the building of the new lab, I stayed well underground and away from the workers, not wanting to hear the praise I knew I didn't deserve. That turned out to be a mistake. Since the architects couldn't ask me what I wanted them to build, they simply built the most fancy and fantastic building they could imagine. The huge old style manor house towered over the trees at four stories tall, not including the spacious attic that was probably more roomy that all the other floors combined. It's wide lawn was surrounded by a thick stone wall that was easily 15 feet tall, and had more rooms than I could ever possibly use, even if I made the place home to the whole Team. The house faced away from the cliff, but the rear section of the fence was actually within a hundred meters of it. Connected to the house by a covered sidewalk was a gigantic greenhouse that swiftly became my favorite place besides the underground section of my old workshop. I had always been horrible with plants, and now was no exception. I was persistent, however, and after a time the greenhouse was filled with growing things of all shapes and sizes.

The first thing I did, when I finally got the workers to leave, was to build a room behind the fridge in the kitchen, and add one hundred and one secrets to the library. I suppose that might have been slightly absurd, seeing as there were other perfectly good places to put my command center other than behind the fridge, but with an I.Q. of more than 400 you get bored really easily, and you have to be a bit creative to avoid it. Besides, its extremely useful if you are prone to wanting midnight snacks. I added a huge amount of digitized books into the library, saved from my old home. However, one of the many boxes I added to the already considerable collection there contained a very small and very effective laser pistol, hidden behind a label so complicated that no one in their right mind would touch it with a ten foot pole. Also, I added a retinal scanner into one of the many paintings on the wall, and if I stood in just the right place and looked at the painting, it would verify my I.D. and give me a secret entrance to the tunnels below.

By the time I had finished all that, I had decided to get back to life as normal, or at least seem to. Amy and Cream came down to my cliffside hangar with bursting picnic baskets many times, and Sonic came over to hang out like we used to. I don't think Amy believed my act one bit; she could always tell what people were really feeling it seemed. Still, she did her best to cheer me up. Sonic didn't buy it either, but after a few unsuccessful attempts to help me, he decided to just act like things had gone back to normal. He told me that whenever I was ready to talk, he would be there. I knew he would be, and I was really lucky to have a friend and brother like him. Though he didn't know it, that promise helped me a lot more than he thought. It was reassuring to know that I had friends who would be there no matter what. Chris left, and using scanner records at the time I was able to verify he made it home safely and in one piece. Eggman, of course, continued his delusional ravings where he left off, and started attacking the Mobians _again._

Still, every night before I fell asleep I wondered what it would be like to have Cosmo with me, walking through the woods in spring and hanging out with all our friends, and every night in my dreams, I saw again that accursed planet and watched, helpless as she floated toward Dark Oak and her doom. _Doom by my hand,_ my mind constantly reminded me. I began to hate the dark with a passion. Darkness is always hooked with depression, but some people don't stop and think why that is. Darkness isn't necessarily a bad thing, all it does is eliminate or impair the sense of sight. Without sight, it is simply a lot easier for the brain to think or imagine things. The only reason darkness causes depression is because people simply have bad things to think about. The dreams seemed to lay off after a while. I was able to keep a normal, healthy sleep schedule most of the time. Every now and then, I would wake up crying, and stay up the rest of the night.

After a while, everyone but me was shocked when Station Square and a large portion of GUN appeared in the middle of some old mole's farm. My instruments had long warned me of the temporary collapse of dimensional barriers, and the looks on all the humans faces were priceless. Moles make great farmers and can grow some of the best potatoes in the world, but frankly, their eyesight is terrible. The sight of this one nearly walking into the skyscraper that had taken up residence in the middle of his rutabaga patch had me rolling in the dirt laughing my head off. Sonic wasn't much help either. Thinking to run straight across the farm, he came over the hill at mach 2 and embedded himself in the wall of the water company, cutting some important pipelines by accident and causing a bit of a flood. I was disappointed however, to find that the Thorndykes had been on vacation when the town was yanked through the hole in space-time.

Shortly after that event, something happened to creep Sonic out. He came back from a battle with Eggman looking totally freaked and carrying a near dead Amy. Neither of then would say what happened, but a few days later I managed to sneak into Robuttnik's base and steal some of his security records. When I saw what had happened, I confronted Sonic about it. I dragged him into my lab for test after test trying to find a way to destroy his dark form, but it was useless. A small portion of the mind of his dark side was embedded into every cell of his brain, and even with my proficiency with technology, there was no way to remove it without killing him. When I finally gave up, he had me take him straight to the Angel island base we had just set up. There he announced to everyone that Amy and Cream were to leave the Team immediately. Cream did exactly what you would expect her to do. She was a bit disappointed, but she realized that Sonic must be doing what he was doing for a reason, so she agreed. Amy however, surprised me. I had come to the base armed with an personal energy shield prototype, anticipating a very large hammer to be headed my way. Instead, she simply nodded and produced her suitcase out of nowhere. Shortly afterwards, Knuckles and Rouge got into the infamous "Jet Intake Incident". After that argument the only place I saw Rouge was back in Station Square. Last I heard, she had signed up with the human's GUN force and still fought Eggman. She and Topaz were apparently partners again, and best friends too, though they often didn't show it.

Things had gotten pretty monotonous after that. The day's schedule was usually something along the lines of…

7:00 AM: Beat up Eggman

8:00 AM: Stop Sonic from bashing the food processor in the base to bits trying to convince it to make chilidogs.

9:00 AM: Be driven mad by Sonic running around like a maniac telling us he was bored every 3.98 seconds, and complaining about the lack of chilidogs every 7.23 seconds.

10:00 AM: Take Sonic to the city for chilidogs, only to find that Eggman was attacking the city.

11:00 AM: Fly a very angry Sonic back to Angel Island and listen to him come up with new insults about Eggman's name because Eggman destroyed his favorite chilidog stand, forcing him to eat slightly charred chilidogs.

My train of thought was interrupted by a beeping noise. Still chuckling, I went over to the device and saw a small dot waiting at the gate. I quickly flipped to a security camera, confirmed that it was Shadow, then pressed the button to open the gate. Tapping the door control, I quickly left my lab and allowed the fridge to slide into place, blocking the entryway behind me.

A moment later Shadow walked into the kitchen to find me waiting for him. Before he could say anything, I cut him off. "I already know what's happened. Even if it weren't for that buildup of energy from the ship, the thing is so big even the worst sensors would pick it up."

In response he nodded, evidently pleased that I got to the point. "Good. Sonic has gone to see what Team members are currently in the city and try to get them to help. By my estimate we have about half an hour till he arrives."

"Right. Seeing as you've just been fighting, I can get you something to eat and drink, then you should probably go and rest on board the Typhoon while I wait for Sonic. I've already got some 'bots preparing it for the flight."

To my relief, he didn't ask how I'd known what was going on, he simply arched a brow then continued as if nothing had happened. "Fine. I'm not hungry, though I will have something to drink. Just get me a glass of water. I'll be waiting in here." He motioned with his head to the doorway which he had come from, which happened to be the living room. Or at least, the only one of five living rooms I used. I turned to go and get a glass.

* * *

**Tails' Mansion, Mystic Ruins, 3:00 AM**

I sat down on one of the couches in the large room while glancing around, slightly curious as to why Tails had such a large house. I smiled slightly as I realized I had gone straight to the couch in the very back corner of the room, unconsciously reverting to the tactic I had used when in unfamiliar places during my stint as a spec ops.

_I guess maybe I trained myself too well. I need to start reminding myself that not every place has potential backstabbers._

I looked over to the entryway, sensing Tails the moment before he appeared. He was carrying the glass I had requested in one hand and a small pot in the other. He walked into the room, his white lab coat swishing behind him. I was curious about that, since male anthromorphic animals never usually used clothes. It was apparently tailors specially for him though, as the back was split from the waist down so his namesakes would have freedom of movement. The coat was the only clothing that he wore though.

He handed me the glass and set the pot down on a table next to the easy chair he sat on. I was still a bit surprised as to how he had known what was happening almost before we did. I didn't for a moment believe that his instruments had simply picked up the ship, though it was entirely possible. I went back over the past few hours in my memory, looking for something that wasn't quite right. My near perfect memory quickly turned up results. I remembered multiple cameras turning to track me when I had been in Sonic's base.

_So that's it. He must be able to control all the cameras in that base from here. Smart kid._

I also noticed something else. My mind, still hypersensitive because of the recent fight, had picked up a slight deviation in his power aura. When I was this sensitive, my mind could pick up the power auras produced by any living being. Usually, it allowed me to anticipate my opponents next attack, however, this time I realized that there was something slightly off about the amount of life energy he was producing. Something that wasn't there a minute ago. My eyes shot to the small pot.

_Aha. Its not his aura, it is coming from whatever is in that pot. Wait. That aura feels familiar._

Surprised, I stood up and walked toward the pot. As I reached out to pick it up my hand froze in midair. My eyes flicked towards Tails and the other end of the arm that had caught me.

_Damn, he's fast. And he can disguise his next move. I didn't even see that one coming._

I showed no sign of my surprise on the outside, I simply used an expert twist of my wrist to free myself, ending with my hand pointed at Tail's head, a small ball of golden energy in my palm. "You may have been practicing, but you are still nowhere near my level Tails." I arched an eyebrow as he tensed up, looking ready to actually try to fight me. "Relax Tails. I won't hurt her. Besides, if you tried to fight me, it would only turn out like last time." I released him and powered down the Chaos Spear. He relaxed slightly, but still looked like he would attack me if I made even the slightest aggressive move toward the small rose in the pot. I slowly moved my hand down and picked up the pot and looked closer. I moved my left hand over and lightly touched the petals, then jumped in surprise.

As my hand neared the flower, I finally felt something other than a faint oddity. Every inch of my body suddenly felt like it was on fire. And I meant that literally. As if that wasn't enough, it also seemed as though my head was being disassembled atom by atom, and whatever was doing it was leaving the raw nerves for last. In the distance I heard a loud yell, but I was so engulfed in the pain that I didn't know if it had been Tails, or if the cry had come from my mouth. Too weak to stand anymore, I faintly felt myself falling backwards. And falling and falling. Gee, this was taking a long time… Suddenly, the pain vanished and my mind returned to its normal alert mode. The first though that shot through my now clear head was, _Am I blind?_, for all I could see was blackness. Drawing a little power from one of the emeralds, I created a small golden light in my left hand. With that I was able to see my surroundings. I stood up, every muscle in my body aching in silent memory of the pain from a second ago.

_Where in the-_

I was in an extremely long and narrow hall. The walls and roof were made of solid stone, strange carvings littered the roof and walls. Straining my eyes, even I was unable to see were the far end of the hall was. The other end was much easier to see however, since it was just a dead end that I happened to be standing about a foot away from. I looked closer at the strange runes on the surface. Somehow, they seemed slightly familiar. Curious, I reached my hand out to brush some of the vines that had grown over the carvings.

_Pain… Death… Fire…. Horrid tortures, and __**FIRE!**_

"AHHH!" I yanked my hand away and instead grabbed my head. The mental attack had been so strong that it had forced a chain of images onto my mind. _What the hell, what the hell, what the hell… _I was dimly aware that I was sweating. Placing my right hand over my heart, I was surprised to find it racing. Unnatural and illogical fear shot through me. What was going on? Where was I? There was only one thing to do. If I couldn't see with my eyes, then I would have to see with my mind. Still, I was reluctant; if I tried to sense my way around then I would need to lower the barriers around my mind. Though I would rather not go through another mental attack again, I forced down my fear. This was my only option.

Cautiously, I lowered my defenses and reached out for any chaos energy in the area. There was only an average amount, not enough even for a chaos spear, but still, enough that I could use it to sense everything within a large radius of me. I reached out through the seemingly deserted hallways, trying to find a speck of life. When I found it, I wished that I hadn't.

Far down the corridors there were many life forms, some so alien as to be unrecognizable. Still, they all shared one trait. Total and utter insanity. Their minds were brutally shredded so that not a speck of sentience remained. I had to fight back a gag, utterly disgusted by whatever _thing_ could be responsible for such horrid tortures. Just as I was about to retract my mind, it hit something. Another sane mind, and a very powerful one to boot. Glad that I wasn't the only sane person here, I tried to learn more about them, completely discounting the idea that they might be able to sense me just as I was them. Bad idea. Once again, I found myself on the receiving end of a mental attack. Reacting quickly, I threw up walls around my mind, making it impenetrable to even the most rigorous assault. Whoever it was backed off, and I didn't try to sense them again.

I relaxed my defenses, suddenly feeling drained. I lifted my hand and reached out to lean against the wall almost automatically. Bad idea again. Images shot through my mind.

_Pain Pain! AUGH! People undergoing horrid tortures… fire…. flames everywhere…a…face. A terrible face. Eyes filled with the flames. A terrible laugh like nothing ever before_

Violently yanking my hand away, I stumbled back and fell on my tail. My heart felt like it was about to blast out of my chest, my breathing was frantic and irregular. I was more afraid then I could ever remember being.

_What the hell am I doing? I am the ultimate life form! This is disgraceful!_

Forcing my stupid, illogical emotions away, I stood and dusted myself off. Well, I had identified one life form, but they didn't exactly seem friendly, so I decided to search a little bit more before I headed their way. I had searched everywhere on my level, so I began to extend my mind down. Really, really bad idea. Well, unlike all the other times I got a clear image, which just meant that this attack was that much worse.

_A barren and desolate landscape, screams that told of millions in unimaginable pain floated from far off. Fire burned everywhere, and to my horror I could see __**people**__ in the fire. My thoughts were cut off by a voice that seemed to emanate from everywhere and nowhere at the same time._

"_**Shadow the Hedgehog, Ultimate Life form. HA! You are pitiful! Your soul has already been surrendered to us. Your pride and blindness will give us a great feast indeed." **__Two pillars of fire suddenly moved, and to my horror I realized that they were the eyes of some huge creature shrouded in darkness. __**"Take a good look around. This place will be your home for eternity soon!" **_

_With those words came a mental attack of such sheer power and cruelty that it tore aside my feeble defenses effortlessly. My world was pain. As if I was observing someone else, I faintly realized that I was curled up on the ground crying out in pain. My weak attempts at a counter attack were swept aside with a thought, though they did cause the _thing_ to laugh. In my pain, I realized something had changed. The attack had weakened, been bent away. A soft, familiar voice, though I couldn't place who's, echoed across the barren land. "Cease your attacks Demon! You are well aware that it is not his time! Would you disobey your master?" _

When I came to, I was lying once again on the cold stone floor. I found myself curled up in the fetal position, my muzzle wet from tears of pain. I felt a presence that I recognized as the one sane being I had located earlier. "Cease your searching, lest you wake something even more terrible than that. Come to me, I am waiting, Shadow." Energy washed over me, and my muscles ceased aching.

Warily, I stood up. Fine, they had saved my life, or my sanity, I wasn't sure which. Once again, I cursed that I had been created with weak emotions like fear. These past few minutes had been one humiliation after another. Well, since I wasn't dumb enough to risk getting attacked again by feeling my way around, I would need something to let me see better in the dark, though I already had much higher than average abilities in that category.

"Hmm, lets see… Well its worth a shot." I mumbled to myself, coming up with a plan that just might work. I raised my right hand palm forward and pointed it towards the end of the hall that I was unable to see. Slowly concentrating my power, I finally spoke. "Chaos Control!" Focusing, I was able to target the time freeze so it shot forward from my position. A wave of distortion launched from my hand and flew down the corridor, freezing time wherever it passed. I lowered my hand and observed my handiwork with a smirk of contentment of my face. While time around me had stayed normal, it was frozen all down the corridor ahead of me. Where the two areas, frozen and un-frozen, met, there was some kind of strange energy barrier covering the whole hall. If I had to compare it to anything, I would say I looked like someone had forced water to form a two dimensional wall. The energy was transparent, but it swirled constantly, distorting the area beyond it.

"Hmm, I'm going to have to remember this move. I could get a lot of use out of this." Happy that my plan had paid off and already doing my best to forget about the earlier incidents for now, I reached out to touch the barrier, interested on whether or not I could pass through it. I could, which only made me happier. Still, I had to get busy. I had an appointment with whoever it was. With a thought I canceled the chaos control, and the hallway returned to the way it had been. Gently reaching out for the chaos energy I had shot ahead of me, I used it to draw in any light I could find, sending it directly to my pupils. The result, of course, was that the place lit up like day.

Quite pleased with myself I began skating towards the other end at perhaps 60 miles per hour, now being able to see that it was a long, long way away. A few seconds later, as I neared the end, I froze in place. I had just seen something move across the entrance to the hall I was in. Luckily for me, the cloaked form passed by and continued down what must have been another hall that extended off to the left. Once the form was out of sight, I shot down the hall at top speed, being very careful to keep completely quiet.

I reached the end of my passage in under a second, a testament to my speed. Cautiously, I poked my head around the corner and looked down the new corridor. Since I hadn't spread chaos energy there, it was lucky for me that there were torches lining the walls every so often. At the other end, a shadowy form moved quickly down the hall away from me, obviously unaware that it was no longer alone. The torches lit right after it passed them, so I was unable to make out what or who it was. However, I did notice something that wasn't in the hall I had arrived in. The walls were lined with cells. Hundreds and hundreds of cells.

_I seem to be in some sort of prison. Hmm, first thing to do is find the exit. If I can capture whoever that is ahead of me, then it will probably know a way out._

I shot down the hall at a speed of about 60 miles per hour, all the while making sure not to cause a single sound. Unable to contain my curiosity, I peeked in a couple of cells as I passed. I had to stop and resist gagging again because I now found out where those annihilated minds had been. I also found out why they were in such bad shape mentally: their physical condition was worse. I continued on, avoiding looking at the horribly mutilated bodies that somehow clung to life. When I was about twenty meters away, the form stopped suddenly and started to turn. I prepared to all out dash towards it, as there was no way I could hide in time, but I relaxed bit when I saw he was just going to one of the cells. After a movement too quick for me to see, the figure pushed the now unlocked door aside and entered, slamming the entrance shut behind him.

_Aha! Now I have him trapped!_

However, my headlong dash forward was to be interrupted again. With a loud bang and a lot of crashing noises, the figure came hurtling out of the cell… Right through the solid metal bars. I winced with sympathy as the form, which I now saw to be that of a tall male human, slammed into the opposite wall, making a two foot deep indent in the rock. Then, the last thing that I expected to happen, happened. The area in front of the man suddenly filled with whirling flower petals. The petals blasted outward, and floating about a foot off the ground, arms held out a bit from her sides and palms filled with balls of energy, was the last person I had thought to see.

"What the hell? Cosmo?" It all clicked. The familiar presence, the voice that saved me from that whatever-it-was, had all been her.

Cosmo glanced sideways toward me, but even as she did, the man leaped from the indent toward her.

"Look out!"

She flicked her wrist and vines exploded from the stone behind the man and tied him right back to the hole in the wall. I raised an eyebrow, she was just as, if not more powerful, than she had been when she restrained Dark Oak, though her form was that of her younger self. When she spoke, her voice was quite calm, as if blasting people through steel bars was something she did often. Then again, looking at the indents in the wall across from her, it probably was. "Shadow, I have been expecting you for a while now. We don't have much time, so I will make this quick, but first, I will answer two of your questions."

_Don't have much time? What is she talking about? _OK if I can get two questions answered, I should get the two most relevant. "Hmp fine. Where ARE we?"

"You said the name a moment ago. Welcome to the doorstep of Hell." Doorstep of hell? Now I was seriously confused. Hell huh? Then if this was what she called the doorstep… then that burning place was…?

Still, it made no sense. I realized now that she must have been the one who brought me here; it _was_ her flower, after all. What didn't make sense was why she chose me. Practically the only other time I had met her I had been trying to kill her. "Why was I the one to come here then? Why not Tails or someone?" She visibly winced as I spoke Tails' name.

"Only you and Tails have lost someone important to you, so only you two can come here. it's a very complicated explanation, and we definitely don't have time for it now. As for Tails, I would rather not burden him with yet more grief, as I would if he found out where my mind is trapped." She glanced around her worriedly. "Your time here is running out Shadow. I will tell you all I can. Soon, one of the team will perish, I know not who. Regardless of their destination, Heaven or Hell, they will be routed here as I was. Once whoever it is has died, go back to Triple Zero, the place where I died. Everything will become apparent once you arrive. Good luck Shadow, and goodbye."

"Wait, what do you-" I shouted uselessly as the corridor rippled around me, but just before the cell vanished forever, a small girl stepped out of it, and spoke in an all too familiar voice. "Please help us Shadow. You're our only hope."

My eyes opened to find Tails leaning over me, a worried look on his face that switched instantly to relieved as I awakened.

"Shadow! You're alright!" He let out a relived breath. "You moved you hand toward Cosmo, then screamed aloud and fell down and started writhing like you were in intense pain. It only lasted for about ten seconds, then you just went limp. You weren't breathing and your heart wasn't beating, then suddenly you just gasped for air and woke right up!" As he spoke I could feel my face going red. Still, a little embarrassment was worth the discovery I had just made. I had to organize my thoughts.

_How the hell could I have seen Maria just now? _At the same time, a voice in the back of my mind answered for me. _Obviously dimwit, you were in Hell. _

"Tails, take me to the Typhoon. I need to think on this." The intervening walk would allow me to get my thoughts in order. My mind was too muddled with thoughts of Hell and other supernatural nonsense to be of any use now. He nodded and replied with a simple "Follow me." before leading me off through the large house. I knew I didn't have to ask him not to tell anyone about what had happened, he was too nice of a person to do that. After we passed through about five rooms, he stopped in front of a floor to ceiling mural. I quickly scanned the picture, paying attention to even the smallest of details. I noticed that one of the people in the artwork had a slight chip missing from his arm. Judging by appearances so far, this house was fairly new, and I knew that there wasn't much chance of Tails or his creations damaging anything: he programmed them too well. I had my answer before I could even ask the question. Tails removed the missing piece from the pocket of his lab coat and inserted it into the slot. The wall slid open along one of the creases in the stone, revealing a small elevator, which we entered. There were only three buttons, and Tails pressed the one marked "hangar". Evidently, the hangar was pretty far down because we rode in silence for at least a minute.

Finally, Tails got up his nerve to break the silence and asked the question I had been expecting ever since I showed up. "It never ends does it?" Thinking of the pain I still help for all my lost friends, the dreams that sometimes plagued my sleep, I silently shook my head. His shoulders slumped slightly and his expression changed from a calm one to exhaustion. Over the years, I had noticed that when put under high pressure, people were surprisingly easy to read. When I watched Tails, I realized just how much he had changed, and just how much he had gone through already. He may have been only in his early teens, but I could tell his mind had matured far past that age. An emotion I rarely experienced ran through me when I saw how quickly he stood straight again and his expression when he did so. Admiration. His face clearly sent out a silent message that said "Well then, if things are going to be that way, I'll put up with it anyway, and I won't let it get me down. Ever."

_He sure has changed from the shy kid he once was._

As the elevator doors swung open, I shot him a look which he returned. For a moment I let my barriers down, and acknowledged him as something I had never thought of anyone before. An equal. Then I vanished into the familiar light of Chaos Control.

* * *

As the elevator rose back up to the mansion, I thought over the look Shadow had given me. It told me more about him then he had ever said before. I recognized it for what it was, encouragement and a complement at once. I smiled confidently, a new determination flowing through me, racing through my tired body and mind like the energy of the Chaos Emeralds. I stood straight and tall, walking back to the control room with a new spring in my step. There was no way someone was gonna blow up Mobius while we were around! I walked into the lab and began preparing for the battle. I knew that in space Sonic and Shadow were at a disadvantage. This fight would be a test of my skills, and I was determined to make an A+.

* * *

Guys, if the fight scene last chapter was my favorite fight that I have written, then Tails' description of how Station Square appeared was one of my favorite overall paragraphs. I mean come on, was that funny or what? I just get this hilarious image of Sonic ramming into a water company at mach 2 XD.

No guys, Shadow was not OOC, those mental attacks were just so horrible that he had that reaction. I'm serious. That gives you an idea of how bad that place is. Oh, and BTW, that thing Shadow woke up won't be coming back, so don't worry. That was its only scene.

And now, readers are left with the question. Who is going to die? That will be answered, but we still have a ways to go yet! Hope you enjoyed.

**Can you get a good mental picture of events in this story, or can you not? If not, where in the story is it not clear enough for you?**


	8. Chapter 7: Threads of the Past

**The Maze of Time, Part One: Second Chances**

Hello everyone. Yup, it's me. I'm not dead, though I imagine I would be already if you guys knew where I lived. Honestly, I have absolutely no excuses for how long this took. I put off writing a lot, forgot about it for weeks on end, and when I finally got around to doing it, it all came out in bits and pieces. Long story short, I was being a bit stupid. But, on the up side, its finally here! For the first time ever on FF, I present the seventh chapter of TMoT! OK, so now I sound like an announcer AGAIN. I'll quit it.

As a bonus for making you guys wait this long, this chapter is absolutely MASSIVE. In fact, I present to you today what may very well be the largest chapter I will ever write, at a grand total of 10,523 words long, including A/N's. I also have some news for you. As you go through this chapter you may notice a near total lack of the typographical errors that seem to litter anything I write. That is nearly all thanks to one great gal named Lupus Silvae, who so kindly agreed to beta for me, even when warned of the massive chapter size. I am also beta-reading a story of hers, called Soul of a Hero. I don't know how you guys may feel, but I know that _I_ like it. If you are interested, there is a link to her profile and another to the story right up near the top of _my _profile page, so head on over and check it out when you finish this.

**NOTICE: **Ladyamalphia mentioned in her review on the old version of this story that she thought I might be trying to go for a sort of Shadow/Cassy romance in this story. I do realize that some people are inevitably going to see some of the conversations between the two (and this goes for this chapter and all following) as hinting at that. I am not attempting to hint at a romance between the two. In my mind, the relationship between the two is that of friends. Thought I would shoot that down before it came up this time around.

Ah, what to say about this chapter. I have so much I could tell you, and yet, this chapter really needs for you to discover its secrets without my help. As you read many questions will arise, but yet the answers seem to be nowhere in sight. They are there, waiting to be found. All it takes is a little perseverance and thought. I will never directly answer many of the questions, and to some they will seem to be a plot hole. I do not answer the questions for this reason: I don't need to. I wish you all luck in your search for answers. Take the one hint I may give you as a starting point.

Remember, everything, be it large or small, has a reason, and once you can see that, then you will be on your way to finding the solution to the mystery. Each single thing, though seemingly unrelated, is woven together into one picture; all you need to do is match the threads.

**Are you able to visualize the story in your head? This goes double for fight scenes. If you can, please tell me, if not, I want to know where and why PLEASE. **(As something else I want you to include in your review, who do you think is going to be the unlucky dead person two chapters from now? ALSO, if you didn't catch it, the dead person will not be gone simply because he or she is dead. In fact, they will be one of the most important characters in the entire story, simply because of the fact that they died. So don't despair and think that I am going to cruelly kill off some poor character and leave them out of this adventure.)**  
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**REMINDER: Anonymous reviews are ON. Please, I cannot tell you how much hearing from you all means to me. Even if you do not have an FF account, you are able to post a review under any name you would like, just go down and hit the review button right at the bottom of the page.  
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Disclaimer: Same as always.

**Chapter 7 - Threads of the Past...**

The air rushed past my face, and the trees became a blur of green as I accelerated down the forest path. Everything suddenly became silent as I outran even the sound of my own feet. A wide smile on my face, I whirled around, not even slowing as I began to run backwards. A light in the otherwise dark sky far behind me showed that Rouge's fighter was continuing to keep up with me. Even though I was supposed to be leading them, I knew that at least Knuckles knew the way, so I threw on even more speed, still not turning. With an exhilarated laugh I blasted off the path and into the thick forest, letting my memory of times long ago guide me safely through the impossible maze of branches. I smirked as I shot out of the forest without even a single leaf touching my quills, swerving at the last second to avoid the completely vertical cliff that lead down to the sea. I slowed slightly so I could hear the sound of the waves breaking on a shore I had known most of my life. If anywhere in this world or others could be called my home, then this was it. I had run back and forth across the Mystic Ruins, sleeping under the trees and in the namesake building remains, yet the place never ceased to surprise me or lose its attraction to my wandering soul. I doubted it ever would.

Though I wasn't running supersonic anymore, it wasn't by much, and for anyone else except Shadow the chances of surviving this crazy dash though the edge of the wood would be slim to none. But whoever or whatever decided my skills before my birth designed me well. The faster my legs moved, the faster my brain went. I didn't doubt that I had some of the best reflexes in this galaxy or, in fact, the entire universe.

Very soon, even though I purposely zigzagged across the wide forest, a huge manor came into view. I wasn't at all surprised when the gate opened for me so fast I didn't even have to slow down. Knowing Tails, he had probably known exactly where I was ever since I left the city. A glance around showed Rouge's craft landing on the spacious lawn behind the house, so I ran over to it just as the hatch opened.

The canopy slid open smoothly and silently. The first person out was Cassy, and when she saw me standing around she walked slowly over.

"Are they _always_ like this?" She was shaking her head and I realized she was having a hard time keeping her face serious. A little confused, I glanced back at the ship to see what she meant. Sure enough, there were Rouge and Knuckles glaring daggers at each other and muttering under their breath. I had originally planned to leave Knuckles at the hospital, seeing as he probably wasn't going to be able to fight. I was shocked yet again at my friend's resilience though; he had been up and walking by the time I arrived and refused to be left behind, especially because we were planning on using the Master Emerald. When we arrived back at Angel Island, the Emerald managed to surprise us all again by lighting up like a neon sign and suddenly healing Knuckles. Still, he definitely wasn't in top condition and I made a mental note to keep an eye on him. That is, if Rouge didn't.

With a long sigh I answered Cassy in a tone I hoped was quiet enough that Rouge wouldn't hear. "Ohhh yes… They always fight. Sometimes I get to thinking they both enjoy it."

Before the two of them could see me I began to slip around to the other side of the ship, not wanting to be in yet another argument. Sadly, Rouge's ears are definitely _not_ for show, though I'm sure she thinks of them as sexy or something. "Sonic, why the hell did you run off like a maniac!? You were _supposed _to show me where in this damn forest we were going! As it was, I had to let this blockhead fly, and let me tell you, he won't be winning any awards for piloting anytime soon!" Knuckles was opening his mouth to retort, continuing an argument that had obviously been going on for a while, when he was interrupted.

"This coming from the bat who was _this_ close to freaking out when she saw Knuckles about two and a half hours ago, and who refused to leave the hospital room till he woke up?" I winced when I heard Cassy's voice coming from right behind me. I gave her a look that said very clearly "you might want to be running". To my surprise however, Rouge looked away and said nothing. If I didn't know that it was impossible, I'd say that she was embarrassed. This odd reaction unsurprisingly went right over Knuckles' head.

I was about to say something, but just at that moment, Tails walked outside, and all eyes were drawn to him. I stared at him for a long time. This wasn't the same Tails that I had seen a week ago. His eyes were bloodshot, and there were shadows from his apparent lack of sleep. His fur was a matted mess and stained with oil. Black splotches covered his wrinkled white lab coat, which was usually kept as clean as his mechanical work would allow. However, the half smile on his face and the determination in his eyes destroyed the effect of the rest of his appearance. There was the Tails I knew. I smiled proudly at him before greeting him with my usual friendly attitude. "Hey, little bro! What's up?"

"A large floating chunk of metal, circuitry, and laser weapons containing a psychopath who is just begging for a swift kick in the behind." Even Rouge and Knuckles had to laugh at that one despite their bad moods. "Anyway, I've been getting ready for a while now." Here he glanced at his wrist communicator mark two, which also served as a watch and mini computer, with a mock serious expression on his face. "I estimate that we should be done wiping out insolent space ships that try to destroy the planet before breakfast. Sound good to all of you?"

"Sure! That seems like a good plan to… umm, what are you all staring at?" For it was true. Everyone was staring straight at me. No, scratch that, something _behind_ me. Before I could turn, I heard the light patter of feet approaching fast. I whirled, automatically beginning to drop into a fighting stance, but ending up looking awkward when my hands froze halfway there. For a moment, what I was seeing didn't seem to register in my brain, and even when it did, I didn't recognize her for another second. After all, it had been over a year since I had last seen her, but here she was.

_Amy._

_

* * *

_

"…umm, what are you all staring at?" The blue form in front of me spun on one foot, hands moving down to the ready stance I had seen so often while I was still with the Team. I quickly looked him over, a smile crossing my face. I had skidded to a stop right in front of him and crossed my arms over my chest, an amused expression crossing my face. "You look like you're trying to decide whether to hit me or hug me. Well? Make up your mind." That sentence stirred him, and he straightened, dropping his hands to his side and smiling back with the same smile as always. I was happy he hadn't changed as much as his appearance suggested. He was taller, and if you were observant you could see multiple scars under the fur on his chest.

"Hey, Amy! I haven't seen you around for a long time!" Then he surprised me a bit by giving me a stiff hug. I returned it, but where just two years ago I would have been rejoicing, I knew it was just a greeting of old friends. That didn't mean my heart didn't go crazy anyway. Seeing my reaction, he smiled wider, but then his face grew a little more serious. "What are you doing here, anyway? It's way too early to be visiting Tails."

"To make a special delivery to that space ship up there." At that point, I summoned my hammer out of nowhere and waved it under Sonic's nose.

The smile vanished completely from his face and was replaced by a frown more characteristic of shook his head with a little more force than was probably necessary. "No, Amy. You're not on the Team anymore. Let us handle it."

I almost snapped right back at him, but I restrained myself. This was a talk we had better have in private. Totally ignoring what Sonic had just said, I whirled around. "Well, what are we waiting for!? Let's get moving!"

Knuckles nodded, and then he and Rouge ran to the cliff and began to glide down to the hangar. For the first time I noticed a strange female yellow hedgehog that I had never seen before. She had eyes that were green, but slightly lighter tinged than mine or Sonic's. Her quills were long enough to reach down her back all the way to her waist, and were a light brown color, ending with tips dyed bright blue. Looking at her clothes, either she was wearing something out of Rouge's wardrobe, which I later figured out to be the truth, or the two of them were twins. She was wearing a black tube top, trimmed in the same light blue as the tips of her quills with a small blue heart in the center of the top trim and a skirt, boots, and elbow length gloves with the same color pattern. She also had some light blue tinted sunglasses pushed up above her quill line. I wanted to talk to her, but before I could Tails walked over.

"So where do you want me to go?" At my question, Tails visibly squirmed. I could tell that he didn't want Sonic to get mad at him, but he also wanted to avoid the hammer I still had out.

"Um, how about you and Sonic wait here for a bit while I finish the checks on the Typhoon? It'll take me a while, so no hurry…" I smirked when I heard his answer.

_So it's 'let Sonic take care of it today', huh? Okay, piece of cake._

"Come on Cassy, I'll show you down to the hangar." I mentally thanked Tails for his observance. Now Sonic and I could go over this alone. Sonic and I stood still while we watched the fox and hedgehog vanish into the imposing manor. He was standing in front of me and slightly to the left, still facing away from me. For about a minute we stood quietly, I was readying my arguments, and Sonic was probably doing the same. He knew quite well that he was going to have to tell me everything before I would even think about staying behind.

The voluntary silence between us lasted for more than a minute. Finally, it was he who broke it, but not in the way I had expected. He heaved a long sigh, still facing away from me, and with the contents of his lungs, something else left him as well; some fundamental part of the person known as Sonic the Hedgehog. His shoulders drooped slightly and his head lowered. He slowly turned around and his face came into view. He was exhausted; Utterly and completely spent, both physically and mentally. "Look, Ames…" The first thing through my head was worry, but not for myself. I worried most about him, second about all of my friends going out on this mission against who or whatever pushed Sonic into this state, thirdly for all the inhabitants of Mobius, incase we really couldn't destroy that ship, and finally, I let a little glimmer of worry for myself slip in. I wanted to comfort him, to help him, to do something, but I knew he wanted none of it. He would hate to have me worrying over him when, as he would put it, there were better things to do. He didn't exactly seem to get that on my list, he was first priority. Still, this wasn't the first time I had seen him somewhat like this, but it was the first he willingly revealed it to me. For me, there had always been some tiny hint, much, much too vague to pinpoint, but there, nonetheless, to show that everything was fine. He rarely ever had to fake anything; the Sonic everyone saw day-to-day was the way he spent most of his life. Still, even he had his downs, the only difference is he's naturally talented at cloaking them. For some unfathomable reason, I was chosen to be able to see that, even from the start. I had seen even on the day we met that somewhere inside, he was just a normal teenage boy who loved running and seeing knew places, who loved adventure, excitement and his friends, and that, contrary to popular belief, was when I fell in love with him. Not when he rescued me, not when he saved the world again, but when I saw that.

"Look, Ames, I'm really sorry you have to see me like this…" I held up a hand to cut him off and gave him a smile, a sad smile, but a smile nonetheless.

"Sonic, I've been able to read you like a book from day one. One would think you would have already figured that out by now…"

I saw a slight worry flash through his eyes. "I'm that bad at hiding stuff, huh?" Ah, so he was worried that his other friends saw through him, too. He only disguised his weak moments so he could keep their morale up.

"No, Sonic" I reassured him. "I'm the only one." He relaxed just barely. Good, at least I could do something. "Now, can you tell me what's been happening on Angel Island? Whatever you did up there lit the place up like a light bulb. It could probably have been seen from five different countries!"

"Yeah… yeah, sure." Sonic looked like he was building up courage to remember something he didn't exactly want to remember. "But it's gonna be a long story."

I gave him a kindly smile. "Take your time, Tails said there was plenty." He responded with a nod. For one moment more silence reigned supreme in the night, then he straightened. Once again, he was Sonic the Hedgehog, superhero extraordinaire, and when I looked at him, I knew he wasn't faking. I remembered a conversation we had, right after he had freed me from Eggman yet again, long, long ago. I had been in the dumps because I had slipped up and gotten captured again. When I told him that in answer to his queries, he gave me that half grin of his and told me; "Ames, you can't always dwell on the past. You messed up once. So? That's no reason to be moping around! You gotta keep moving ahead. Always remember the past; learn from the bad moments, cherish the good. Just don't let it take you over." It looks like he was taking his own advice.

He turned toward me once again, and even I was surprised how fast his mindset had changed. He stood straight and tall, though his face was serious and absent of its usual grin, and his eyes burned with an emerald fire promising woe to anyone who threatened this planet: his home. "Well, I'll just start with what happened first…" And so his story began. He started off with the good news of Shadow's survival, which stunned me completely. However, everything went downhill from there. He continued explaining the events on Terra; Shadow's first run in with our opponent. From there he jumped to what had been going on here. He told me everything, even how he himself had nearly been killed. As he spoke of that moment I noticed an odd expression cross his face, but thought nothing of it at the time. "…so after I sent Shadow here I headed to the city to meet up with Cassy and Rouge at the hospital and get them to come help. Apparently, that huge flash of power from the Master Emerald sped up Knuckles' healing abilities even more. He was limping around on crutches when I arrived, when he should have been out cold. And of course, when he realized we planned to take the Master Emerald to help power the Typhoon, he refused to be left behind." I nodded. Though Tails had overcome the Typhoon's complete reliance on the Master Emerald for power with some insanely powerful nuclear based reactors, anything extra would be a huge help. Sonic had been right to bring it. "Then when we got to the Emerald Shrine, it immediately shot out some big green beam of power at Knuckles and he was healed, well sort of. I think he's still in pain, he's just too stubborn to admit it. As it is, he can at least fight, or so he claims." He frowned with worry for his friend for a moment. "After we loaded up Knuckles' precious rock, Rouge, Cassy, and Knux flew in Rouge's ship while I ran along the ground. On the way Cassy explained to us all the stuff that happened before Shadow warped here." While had been speaking, the two of us had walked across the expansive lawn over to the cliff edge. Now we stood staring out over the ocean that stretched off beyond the horizon, and above it, the full summer moon, blemished by the black spot that marked the enemy's ship. Now he turned to me, his story finished, and I could see that he was mentally begging me to stay behind. "So, now that I've told you that, will you just wait here?"

I let out a long sigh. "Sonic, look. I know how you care about me and all your other friends, and that if you thought you could do this without help then you would in a heartbeat. But you do need help, and as much of it as you can get. Besides, even if you didn't think you did, you couldn't order us to just stand back and let you risk your life alone. If we choose to risk our lives to help you, then that is our choice, not yours, no matter how much you wish otherwise." I spoke kindly, not angrily. He was trying to keep me safe as best he could, and for that I was grateful. Still, he needed all the help he could get, and we both knew it.

"So there's nothing I can say to make you stay behind?" I shook my head. " You're not afraid you might die?"

I countered his question with another. "Are you afraid that you might die?"

He shrugged, but I could tell he got my point. When he spoke, he answered for the both of us. "No, not really. Being scared of it won't actually stop it, so what's the point?" I gave him a smile.

"Sonic, even if I were to die now, I would be content. Fighting to protect my home and everyone I know, alongside my best friends in the world, and alongside you is not really that bad of a way to go." I noted that his eyes flickered towards me from where they had been watching the sea. He acted surprised to find that I still felt the same way about him. Apparently he was still under the misconception that it was a crush that would go away with time.

"So then you still…" He let his question trail off, though it was obvious what he was asking.

"Did you honestly expect otherwise?"

He shrugged, and his voice gained a familiar jovial tone once more. "Not really…" Once more he faced me, his half grin again in its proper place and his eyes flashing mischievously. "Race you to the hangar!"

"You're on!" We took off for the house door, laughing. It was good, sometimes, to just be kids…

* * *

Crimson met crimson as I stared deep into the center of the chaos emerald in my palm. I stood on the very edge of the runway atop the Blue Typhoon, which was currently resting on a movable landing pad that Tails had extended out from his cliff side hangar. The wind, which had grown quite violent, whistled across the mouth of the large bay where the hangar was based and even managed to penetrate this deep inside the sheltering cliff walls. My quills shook side to side in the frigid blasts of air, and outside the bay I could hear the roar of the sea slamming against the cliff. From above, dead leaves fell in clouds, meaning that the wind had picked up some of the debris on the forest floor and was blowing it every which way.

Still, I stood oblivious to the rough weather, staring intently at the emerald. The gems were not only a repository of power, but of knowledge as well, and I figured if there was anywhere I could get an explanation of the strange incident that I had gone through it was from them. However, though they had many secrets, they seemed somewhat loath to part with them, and so I found myself fighting an uphill battle against their defenses. This had been continuing for nearly an hour already, but I was patient, and my immense curiosity only spurred me on. Although, I had to hand it to whoever created the gems; they were so expertly made that even I couldn't pierce their reservoir of knowledge.

As if I had turned a key in a lock, something happened. I had been levitating the emeralds in a circle around me, save the red one which I had been using to link to all the others, but now they passed beyond my control. Glowing with brilliant hues, they rebuffed my attempts at control and began to float on their own power. Wave upon wave of energy washed over me, as if I had awakened something in their cores.

I do not know how best to describe what happened next. I could say that the emeralds spoke to me, but I was well aware that they created no sound. Still, that is the only thing I can compare it to. Their voices, if they could truly be called that, hummed with power beyond description. The words I 'heard' were strange, of no language of mortal beings, and though I didn't know what the words themselves meant, I somehow grasped the meaning of the speech. The emeralds sang. The lyrics praised 'The Craftsman' whom they gave many titles besides that one. Maker, Liege, and Master. They spoke no names, only titles of honor.

_Could they have… overheard my thought about their maker?_

This was beyond anything I had expected, and for once in my life, I had no idea what to do. Fortunately, nothing was the right answer. The song had not been directed at me, but what followed was. The power that permeated every facet of the gems pressed down on me with an almost crushing weight; it was as if the gems had gained a mind of their own. Then they began their tale.

The story was not 'told'. They did speak in those strange almost-voices, but it was accompanied by images, feelings, and thoughts. They spoke of a time long ago near the dawn of time, when chaos ruled the universe. Seven lords wielded the power, causing havoc at will. They controlled all from a cave, the likes of which does not exist now. Its walls were covered with gemstones of unimaginable beauty all permeated through and through with chaos, so they shone all colors of the rainbow. But in the center of the cavern was the largest gem ever to exist. A massive pillar of green emerald rose from the floor and continued to the highest point in the cavern roof, which was nearly a mile high. The gem glowed with a brilliant light, keeping the cave as bright as day. That was the place where the seven Lords of Chaos ruled.

Their reign, however, did not last. The chaos emeralds spoke of the coming of a craftsman, a humble old human who carried all his worldly possessions in a sack on his back. He walked with an oaken staff, and made his living making things of all sorts. Or at least, that's what he seemed to be. For one day, the little old man appeared at the mouth of the cavern of the seven. The lords were startled, and more than a little confused when the man announced that their rule was at an end. He challenged them to a battle, which only served to confuse them more, though they also found it quite funny. They did not laugh long, for, with a thought, the man bested all seven, wielding power unimaginable. He became wreathed in white flame, too brilliant to look at. The seven bowed down in awe, surrendering immediately.

Once he had accepted their surrender, the craftsman began his work. On the first day, he inspected all the gems lining the cave walls, which was no simple task, and chose seven of the largest emeralds. Though emeralds are naturally green, such long exposure to high amounts of chaos energy had altered their chemical makeup slightly, and so, each emerald was a different color. Red, green, blue, purple, yellow, white, and cyan. He removed the gems he chose from the cave walls. On the second day he worked, the craftsman shaped and cut the jewels into a form that he decided was best. The third day came, and the gems were shaped. The craftsman laid the emeralds aside, and walked to the mouth of the cave. There he sat for the entire day, calling to him all the chaos power spread through the universe as a black hole absorbs light. In the evening he stood, and he had called to him seven orbs of chaos. Each of these orbs he placed in a gem, while the seven lords looked on. At dawn of the fourth day, he presented each of the lords an emerald and commanded them to seal themselves within it. Knowing that they had been bested honorably, the lords complied quite willingly, and they spent the day preparing and acting out the spell that would seal them. On the fifth day, the craftsman approached the central pillar of the chamber, and began work once more. From its deepest core he fashioned the largest emerald that had ever been seen. Into it, he placed a part of his power, and set it to watch over the other seven emeralds. By the time the story reached that point, I was sure that what I was being told was the creation of the seven chaos emeralds and the Master Emerald.

The emeralds had not finished, however, and they spoke of the sixth day. The craftsman, his work now done, carried his finished masterpiece down the mountain on which the cavern sat, collapsing the cave behind him and destroying forever all other gems of chaos. He traveled down the side of the mountain, and at the base he met a tribe of wandering echidnas, the only one, in fact. They had been kept as servants by the seven lords because of their remarkable physical strength, and it was to them that the craftsman entrusted his work. When given to the echidnas, the Master Emerald ripped the land around the mountain from its roots and sent it high into the sky, so that the echidnas would be protected from those who wanted the power of the emeralds. On the seventh day, the craftsman left the echidna village and climbed the mountain once more. He looked on from above at everything he had done, and was content with it.

There the tale ended, I assumed because that was the only time the emeralds ever met the craftsman. The first thing I noticed when I again became aware of my surroundings, for the tale had put me into a somewhat trance-like state, was the utter silence. Not a sound in the world was stirring, as if all of existence had stopped to listen to the story of the emeralds and had yet to realize that the tale was over.

My mind ran over what I had been told. It was certainly hard to believe that the emeralds had once been sentient beings. Still, I had seen and heard stranger things, though not by all that much. Normally, if I had been told such a bizarre tale, I would have been skeptical at best. However, I discounted the possibility of the emeralds lying, for if they had ever once been sentient, they had lost all trace of that long ago. Now they were only repositories of immense power and knowledge, and from the experience I had just gone through, it was obvious that they contained more of both of those things than I had ever imagined. Still, they retained some of what they once had been, for chaos energy will always be chaotic, for that is its nature and nothing will ever change that. As such, I was wary of the emeralds reason for imparting this information to me.

I was jerked from my thoughts when the emeralds gave one final flash. Power once again shot through me, and I felt the liquid chaos in my veins burn with sudden energy. The world flashed into sharp detail; I could see clearly the pattern on a moth's wings from all the way across the bay, could feel every beat of the waves against the shore outside the cove. I felt more alive than I ever could remember. Slowly my hypersensitivity faded away and I was once more able to take control of the emeralds' flight. I was surprised to find that the concentration required for that task was so miniscule as to be unnoticeable. It was as if the emeralds were now allowing me much more control over them than before. It seemed I had passed some kind of test, though I had no idea how I had, or even what it was. I caught the red emerald once more in my hand and looked into it again focusing my thoughts on the odd events that had occurred when I touched Cosmo's rose. I'm not sure what I expected to happen, but suddenly streams of information were flashing through my brain at lightning speeds. No sooner had they appeared then they passed beyond reach, giving me no time to decipher them. From the muddled tidbits I did comprehend, all the information was irrelevant to my current search. It seemed as if the emerald was sort of fast forwarding to get to the information I needed.

Without warning, the flow slowed, and images appeared in my mind without any bidding from me. The emeralds did not speak as they had previously, but pictures and words slipped into my head as if I was reading them from a book. I went over what the emerald gave to me, and was perplexed. The information seemed to be a list of requirements needed to use the emeralds mentally, which was infinitely more powerful that hooking them to a machine. In the back of my head, I felt the flow of knowledge still flashing past, as if the list was only something for me to think over while the emerald found what it was I wanted. Accepting that explanation, I began to 'read'.

It seemed that, at one point in time, all the emeralds, the Master Emerald included, were able to be used by the echidna race. In fact, according to the information I was examining, a long time ago echidnas had been the _only _people who were qualified to wield the power of the emeralds. However, as the list went on there was reference to a 'Fall' of the echidnas. It seemed fewer and fewer of the echidnas were able to use the emeralds, and even those not effectively. This degeneration continued until finally no echidna was able to harness the chaos emeralds, though the Master Emerald still lent its power to one echidna family. From what I could decipher, that lone echidna family happened to be the Guardians. Since Knuckles could ask for the Master Emerald's power, I assumed the tradition of Guardian had been passed on through the family. Then, it seemed, even the Master Emerald had had just about enough of the echidnas. Though the information I had made little mention of it, I gathered that the Master Emerald had summoned Chaos to destroy the entire race, save its own Guardians, to whom it still remained loyal. I winced: I had hacked into the Doctor's archives once and read the article on him. He didn't exactly sound like the nicest guy. The Master Emerald had somehow ordered the current Guardian and his entire family to head to the top of the central mountain of the island, then had allowed the island to drop into the sea. Chaos summoned a massive tsunami that put all but the highest point of the island underwater and kept it that way for one hundred and fifty days. I raised my eyebrow: that must have been one huge wave. After that, he allowed himself to be sealed once more by Tikal, who I had also heard of on one of my hacking forays into the Doctor's network. Since that point, it seemed that the only people able to wield the power of the Master Emerald were the Guardians, and the only ones allowed to use the chaos emeralds were those somehow related to the original Chaos Lords.

That brought up some interesting questions, like how in the world Professor Gerald got his hands on DNA of the Chaos Lords, and how Sonic was able to use the emeralds. At that moment however, the emeralds got what I wanted.

The data was shown in quick flashes: I saw Angel Island when the echidnas were still alive, then I saw a view of the galaxy. As I watched, it was slowly engulfed in a black cloud, quickly approaching the point where I knew Mobius was. Various flashes of atrocities committed shot before my eyes, some were even horrible enough to make my stomach turn. Present in all was a shadowy silhouette of a man, the only parts of which with color being his brilliant red eyes and his white grin. More words seemed to flow into my head, saying how the dark form had come from nowhere and began conquering world after world, destroying all resistance until he reached Mobius.

I saw from behind my closed eyes an image of a young echidna, perhaps only as old as Knuckles or Sonic. I didn't know his name, and wasn't told it, but I was told what he had done. In the time when all of the race was able to use the emeralds, the dark thing, whatever it was, arrived on Mobius. None of the echidnas were brave enough to face it, save one.

I saw the young echidna standing on the edge of Angel Island, around him lay all the emeralds, and far out in the sky in front of him was a fast approaching dark cloud. I watched, invisible, as I wasn't really there, as for the first time fear flickered across his face. At that moment I felt that he might turn back, but suddenly the emeralds lifted from the ground, glowing softly. The Master Emerald, from where it sat beside him flickered, and it seemed as if he understood something from it. The fear faded, and his eyes closed with concentration. The emeralds shone brighter that I had ever seen in my life. In fact, if I had been looking at the site with my actual eyes, I would have been blinded.

In the mental image I was seeing, the young echidna was gone, replaced by a light that would destroy any eye that looked at it. He threw himself forward with a roar of battle, towards the approaching shadow, whish veered off course to meet him. There in my mind's eye, I witnessed the most incredible battle I had ever seen, and likely more amazing than any battle I would see in later times. The two beings fought, hurling such power at each other that I would have been annihilated had I actually been there, even though I stood miles away. On and on they fought, but I could see already who would win. The dark form slowly but surely wore out his opponent, and was finally able to throw him to the ground.

I stood suddenly in a forest, to my left was the young echidna, his aura nearly gone and the emeralds lying around him. He was at first sitting on one knee, panting too hard to stand, but he caught his breath and straightened. To my right, the dark form appeared in a tornado of dark power. The being chuckled, his deep voice echoing eerily around the forest, and he spoke.

"Bow to me, young one, and I will spare your planet. You have fought better than any opponent I have yet faced, and it truly would be a pity to kill you." I looked to the echidna, waiting for his reaction. To my surprise he smiled calmly.

"I bow to one and one only. Do your worst." His voice ran out, filled with such confidence that I was stunned. His eyes burned with a fire unlike any I had seen before. He surely knew he was about to die, and yet he stood smiling, as if he was going for a short walk in the forest on a nice afternoon.

I knew well why he had failed. The problem that faced him was the same one that had haunted Professor Gerald while trying to create the ultimate life form: his mortal body could not withstand the full power of the emeralds. Before now I had thought that my ability to use Super Form had meant that I could withstand that force, but I saw now that the emeralds were much stronger than I had thought.

I realized what he was going to do only the second before his hand contacted the Master Emerald. The forest rocked; power the like of which I had never before felt washed over everything in the area, blowing aside the dark shadow around the silhouette and revealing a familiar face. It was younger by far then when I had seen it last, but in front of me was the fear stricken face of none other than the strange man that had been attacking us for the past day. I had never seen him as afraid as he stood now, terrified to the point of quaking, and I didn't really blame him, for across from him the echidna was engulfed in a brilliant white flame. I watched in horror as his body burned away so thoroughly that not even ashes remained. Then, shining so brilliantly that I could not look at it, a glowing white form appeared from nowhere. The massive blast of white light engulfed the man completely, and when it cleared, neither of them were to be found. All that was left were the emeralds lying on the ground, though I could have sworn I saw a white form walking into the center of the Master Emerald.

Once more I opened my eyes and became aware of the world around me. Again I stood on the prow of the Typhoon, left full of questions, yet holding no answers. I didn't understand why I had been told that story instead of the answer to my question. In response, the litany of horrific things that the dark form had done flashed through my head, but slower this time. I realized where the answer had been. He had on many occasions killed his most powerful adversaries, then called forth ghosts from their bodies. What he had done, apparently, was capture their minds directly before death, take control of them, then manifest them in the real word in bodies he created with his power. It seemed to follow that someone, most likely him, could have done much the same thing to Cosmo, only that left the question of where it was that I had seen her.

Suddenly, I realized why the emeralds had shown me the list of requirements. Of course! I nearly hit my forehead for the sudden obvious answer that came to me. It had made mention of the sealing of Chaos inside the Master Emerald. From what I remembered from the Doctor's archives, it was possible to reach Chaos and Tikal through the Master Emerald. Something identical must be possible through the flower of Cosmo. As to the question of how it was that I was suddenly pulled in when others had felt no effect, she had stated that she had pulled me through on purpose, so she must have had some power over the real world.

Now I only had two more questions. The first was quite obvious: who had Cosmo's warning spoke of? Who was destined to die? I could discount myself, as she had given me the message. That question was unanswerable at the time, but my other one was. If the information I wanted had been so obvious, why had the emeralds started telling me about their creation, who was able to use them, and the long story about that echidna? It would have been quite simple to answer my questions directly. As if cued by my thoughts, and by now I realized that they probably were, the emeralds flashed brilliantly one last time, and I heard the beautifully powerful chorus of their 'voices' once more.

"You will keep on hearing, but will not understand. You will keep on seeing, but will not perceive."

Silence fell once more, complete and utter. Well, the emeralds had been right on one count anyway; I had absolutely no idea what their words were supposed to mean, and I would not have deciphered them had I heard them a thousand times over. I felt in my heart that it was pointless to question the gems further. They had said all that they were going to say. A quick thought served to hide them from sight; there was no sense in continuing to hold them in the air. And so I stood silently atop the Typhoon, still in as much confusion as I had been before the emeralds spoke.

I heard nothing, not even the whisper of cloth, but I knew from a flicker of movement reflected in the well polished metal of the Typhoon that someone was approaching. I caught a flash of yellow and I identified my visitor.

"Hello, Cassy." My voice, though very quiet, caused the hedgehog that was now no more than a few feet behind me to jump in surprise.

"Yikes! I know I wasn't making any noise. How did you know I was here?"

"Hmph." I motioned with my hand towards the hull plating. "Tails keeps his toys in good condition. Polished metal works as a passable mirror." With an "ah" of comprehension, she looked to where I had motioned and saw me reflected there.

After that, she said nothing. Apparently she had picked up on the fact hat I did not enjoy conversations overly much. We stood side by side simply staring into space. I noticed with apathy that she had changed from that SWAT uniform she had been wearing into something that must have been given to her by Rouge: no one else would have an outfit like that in their wardrobe. It was a black tube top trimmed in blue with one of the bat's signature hearts on the upper line of trim. Along with that she was wearing a skirt boots and gloves with the same color scheme, as well as some blue tinted sunglasses pushed above her quill line. Why anyone would want blue tinted sunglasses was beyond me…

After a few minutes I decided to speak. "Why are you here?" My tone was not insulting; I was simply asking a question.

"You mean why am I out here?" She motioned to the area around us. "If so, Tails sent me off to tell you launch is as soon as he can return power to the bridge systems. He apparently had them down for maintenance. If you mean why am I _here_, the answer should be obvious. I'm going to help save this place from the crazy guy."

"Ah. That's what I thought." I nodded slowly. Once again I spoke not to insult, but simply to be the voice of reason. "And how will you be able to help?" I already knew that someone was going to die. I got an acute feeling that it would be her if she went. She was incapable of the feats that set the rest of the team apart from everyone else. Since it had been my fault that she had gotten into this mess in the first place, and since she was still counted as my partner on a mission; our mission had been to stop the attacking terrorists, and as of yet it was incomplete, I felt responsible for her safety to an extent.

"What?"

I should have realized that my question was not clear enough. My communication skills had atrophied from lack of use since the death of Maria. "What abilities do you have that the others don't? What strength can you add?" To some the question might sound obnoxious, but I was simply looking at the matter from a logical perspective. A normal hedgehog would only serve to slow us down, no matter how good a soldier she might be.

"Oh. I get it." She smiled. Good, she had taken the question in the way I meant. She sighed and shook her head, still smiling slightly. "I should have known you were going to say that, Shadow. If there is one thing I have learned in the past twenty-four hours, it's that you're a loner." I let out a "Hmph" as if to say, "You just realized that?" She grinned. "First, tell me what is so great about the others. I've seen what you and Sonic can do. What about Rouge or Knuckles?"

"Rouge is much like yourself. She works in a special branch of the military, as you may have guessed by the helicopter she had. Before that she was widely known as the best jewel thief in the world. Aside from the obvious ability of flight, I have seen her drill through titanium robots with a single kick. As for Knuckles, he is not only able to come relatively near the sound barrier when running, but his punches can break through diamond with a single hit. Also, he was once a treasure hunter and has a knack for sensing supernatural energies that nearly rivals mine. He is also able to glide for short distances and call upon the Master Emerald for power."

"That massive gem you used to blast that guy away?" I nodded. She seemed visibly impressed, but not at all likely to back down. "Ah. How about that girl that Sonic is arguing with up top? The one with the hammer."

I arched an eyebrow. Amy was here? I could guess what the Faker was arguing with her about. Most likely much the same as the discussion I was having with Cassy, except he was most likely doomed to failure. "That's Amy. I haven't seen her much, but I gather she is pretty dangerous with that hammer. I once found a recording where the Doctor made the mistake of making her angry. Within a few seconds, his air ship, which was about a mile in the sky, was pelted with massive hammers that were thrown hard enough to embed themselves into the metal. He was nearly knocked out of the sky."

"The Doctor?"

"Not important."

She took the hint and returned to the topic. "Where does she get the hammers anyhow?"

"I have no idea. They seem to spontaneously appear." This time she was definitely impressed.

"OK, then what about that fox? He was just a kid, how is he so strong?"

I motioned back into the hangar. "See all this?" She nodded. "He made it. All of it." Shock was visibly evident on her face. "No one knows his IQ: no test has been made that he can't answer every question perfectly. Besides that, he can fly using his tails." I thought of our confrontation on the Typhoon three years ago. "If he has a reason to fight, hope that you are not his opponent. He is either crazy, or the bravest person I have ever met. The last time we saw each other, I nearly had to kill him to get him off me."

"Wha- You _fought_ these guys?"

I hung my head slightly. "I am not proud of it. At the time I was suffering from amnesia."

"Oh. Sorry."

"It is nothing that you need apologize for." She seemed visibly impressed that I had given Tails such compliments. She had apparently also realized that I wasn't the type to give say something that I did not mean. "So, do you understand why I think that it is logical that you stay behind?"

"Yes, but you don't understand my reasons for coming. You are a loner plain and simple, and so, you evaluate everyone on their personal abilities, not how they can work as a team. To take out a powerful enemy it doesn't require equal amounts of strength from the other side. You have to out think your opponent and use superior numbers to an advantage."

"A chain is only as strong as its weakest link," I shot back. "If he were to kill one of us, it very possible could throw the rest into disarray, not to mention what might happen to Sonic."

"Sonic? What about him?" I thought of the glimpse I had gotten three years ago of Sonic, wreathed in smoke, his fur the color of mine without the highlights on my quills. I remembered vividly the blank white shapes where his eyes should have been, and the massive fluctuations of power flashing off of him.

"If you are unlucky enough to find out, I will pity you." I said no more on the topic. "Still, it is within his power to easily kill you with a thought, and as you proved with the bullet you put through his head, you are unable to hurt him in return."

Knowing I would speak no more on the subject of Sonic, she continued our argument. "But using your own example against you, had I not fired at that moment you would both be dead."

"But had Rouge been unable to save you, you would have died as well."

"Ah, but that just brings me back to my point on teamwork. Do you honestly think Rouge and I hadn't already set that up? The idea was to draw him into an ambush and let you guys free. I played on the fact I picked up that he seems to be easily angered."

For a moment I stayed silent, thinking. When I finally spoke, it was one word. "OK."

She blinked incredulously. "That's it? OK?"

"You made your point and made it well. I see nothing odd about that."

"Well it's just that I thought you would be more… stubborn."

I glanced over at her. "Stubborn has two meanings. The first is one who does not give up in the face of adversity. The second is one who foolishly clings to an idea long after it has been proven wrong. Though I may be the first, I am not the second."

Accepting my explanation, she simply nodded and said nothing more. The bay still remained as quiet as it had been since the emeralds had begun to respond to me. At this point it was nearing unnatural. I felt goose bumps creep up my back, and in my gut came a falling feeling that accompanied a certainty that what was going to happen soon wasn't going to be good.

"Literally the calm before the storm, huh?" I turned to Cassy who was pointing off to the distant ocean sky that was visible through the entrance to the cove. It was covered in thick black clouds, and I was able to pick out the small flashes of lightning between them. "I don't like this weather at all." I saw her shiver to punctuate her meaning.

I felt sympathy for her. She was impossibly far away from her home on an unfamiliar planet and about to go into battle with someone who could kill her with a flick of his wrist. I spoke softly, matching her tone that was barely above a whisper. "I feel it as well." I knew what she referred to. The air around us seemed to push down upon my shoulders with an impossible weight, and only the faintest touch of wind made a sound around us. It was enough to make my neck fur stand on end. Suddenly, the image of the young echidna came back to me. I remembered how, when in his lowest point, the emeralds had given him strength. So, almost unconsciously, I drew forth the green emerald, and its soft light shone around us.

The weight pressed upon my back lifted and I felt the chaos energy in my veins burn in response to the light. My eyes flashed dangerously as I looked directly into the storm ahead. I whirled around to Cassy, seeing the same confidence in her eyes as I felt in my own body. "Let the storm come. We shall see who can thunder louder!"

* * *

And there we have it, my triumphant return to the fanfiction scene, appropriately posted at two in the morning, and most likely noted only by a few crickets, who will proceed to chirp to fill the massive silence. _

Anyhow, I have totally lost track of the number of various different references, some so obscure that only someone with my mindset may be able to find them. Also, there are a few regular secrets, and I will start you guys off by telling you to guess the identity of the echidna who Shadow figured out about. Then you can find the five or six insanely well hidden other secrets. Lupus had all the knowledge needed to find all but one of them, but she was only able to uncover one, though she found that one pretty well. ^^ Guess I am getting really good at hiding stuff. If you guys want a little more help, then I will hint that all the things that I am talking about are hidden in SHADOW'S part. Namely the first part; you can skip the conversation. (On that note I remind you that there will be no Shadow/Cassy in this story. That was not my intent when I introduced her.) There is one last thing I can and will do for you guys. Very soon, meaning within a few hours hopefully, I will create a forum specifically for discussing TMoT. That way you guys can talk to each other on this little treasure hunt I have set up. I might even ask Lupus to give you guys a hand. I think she suspects some of my secrets.

Anyhow, the next chapter of TMoT will be up sometime very soon. Once more I will refuse to give you an exact estimate, since that never turns out well, but I _have _already written the first fourth or so of the chapter. Don't worry guys it isn't nearly as long as this, and it returns to my good old battles. Well, sort of. I can promise some serious violence and explosions, but it won't be anything like my previous fight scenes. You will discover how Tails fights in space. Which he does pretty darn well. FEAR THE TYPHOON! ^^

**Are you able to visualize the story in your head? This goes double for fight scenes. If you can, please tell me, if not, I want to know where and why PLEASE.**

**EDIT****: Review Response to Kharmachaos:** ... HOLY BALONEY! You know, about thirty seconds ago, I cam downstairs feeling very smug about my little treasure hunt, sure that no one would be able to find much of anything. But DANG! You sure you aren't psychic or something? I'll go through these in the order you rattled 'em off, and will put this in my next A/N as well.

1. Actually, in this story Sonic is not a Christian. You know, the way I see him, he really wouldn't give much thought to something like religion, touching on the subject only in random thoughts to the side. However, yes I was thinking along those lines when I wrote that. So, half a point for that. No wait, I hadn't even intended to count that in the little information hunt, so I'll give full credit.

2. That wasn't meant to be any reference to anything, just an excuse to get me another cool gadget to mess around with in my story. If it seems familiar from something, then oops. I created all its functions by myself, so it wasn't meant to copy anything.

3. Yes she _has_ loosened up quite a bit, but I did go out of my way to point out that she still feels the same way. In this story, I have brought out her character's mature side, which has really been there all along if you look for it.

4. I don't quite get what you are talking about here. I just threw that line in since it seems obvious to me that you couldn't use your body to bash through titanium robots at mach one without doing _some_ damage to yourself.

5. OK, this could be good or bad. Either I have referenced Sonic CD (Which I have never played and could not even explain the plot of btw) in a way that I didn't mean, or I have Amy down so well that I actually made her seem a lot like her character in the cannon story. If the latter is true, I am stunned. That Amy part had to be dragged from the very depths of my mind bit by bit. It is actually what took up nearly all of the time I used creating this.

6. That just seems like something Sonic would say. I created the line off the top of my head, but I'm sure that he has said stuff like it multiple times. (At least once in Sonic X, maybe more.)

7. I haven't the foggiest clue _how_ that could be referenced to '06 at all, even though I _do _know the plot of that one. But your first guess was right on. It was referring to the massive chunk of Chapter 4 that I spent up on Sonic's near death thoughts. He didn't mention those to Amy, but he was sure thinking about them, which she picked up on.

8. Look man, lets just say I am totally stunned both at your ability to find things and at my ability to do things completely by accident. That was just to give me fun things to do during the space battle next chapter. Oops, did I say that out loud? Yup, guys there will be a space battle!

9-10. Bingo, my friend, bingo! This was one of the easier ones, and once I was about two lines into your review, I knew you would get this. First off, yes the Craftsman is a reference to God, and a very poorly hidden one at that. I had to stretch it a little to make there be enough work for six days, but I managed it in the end. The test I referred to was this: The emeralds told the story to get a reaction from Shadow. His reaction was skeptical as to the reason that they told him the story, but he believed the actual tale, meaning he passed. (This doesn't make Shadow a Christian either, though he gives his reason for believing the emeralds in the chapter.) I will be coming back to this on multiple occasions. I sort of counted on someone finding it.

11-12. Holy cow, even Lupus didn't catch THAT one! o_O If it is possible to make money off of finding things like this, you should be thinking about it as your profession. Actually, the echidna's are a very confusing set of analogies. They are, in a sense, an analogy for the people of the whole world, with the guardians being the Israelites, and in that case, I suppose that the Master Emerald would be like the Ark of the Covenant. However, as you noticed in your next point, I made a reference to the Flood, going to far as to look up exactly how many days it lasted. In that case, the Guardian alive at the time was Noah.

Well, there IS plenty left for you others to find, and Kharmachaos has you on the right track. As for you, Kharmachaos, if you don't already have an account, I would love it if you would create one, if only so I could see what else you can find without telling all the secrets to the rest of my readers. So, if you create one, be sure to message me first thing! :)


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